	Dave & Joyce's Great Loop Adventure


	Cell: 317-403-0128b Email: davejoyceajohnson@gmail.com Follow us via Google Map

12-28-2010	We are leaving Indiana today and heading back to Marathon Florida. We have added a link at the top of the page (Follow us via Goggle Map) that will show a map of our current location once we begin the Great Loop. Email us if you have problems with the map.

12-22-2010	Joysea and Reflection arrive at Banana Bay, Dave kisses land.	The video link at left was taken November 19, 2010 just as we arrived in Banana Bay resort/marina. We just heard that a slip has opened up so we will be able to stay here until we begin the loop ... probably mid to late April 2011.

12-14-2010	The video link to the right shows Dolphins playing in the wake of Reflections. These incredible animals loved to follow both Reflections and Joysea gracefully gliding besides both boats. At times they appear to be looking directly at us watching them out-perform both vessels.	Dolphins Play in Reflection's Wake Joyce and Dave are back home in Indiana enjoying this fine crisp weather!

12-13-2010	The video link to the right was provided by George Telschow a friend of Pat and George Hospodar. Thanks for the video George! The video was taken November 11th 2010.	Reflection & Joysea arriving at the Halifax River Yacht Club in Daytona Beach Reflection, Joysea, ICW, Halifax, Daytona Beach

12-11-2010	We took Joysea for a ride to a beautiful reef about 3-4 miles out into the Atlantic. The water was fantastic! We were on a mooring ball in about 22 feet of water and you could see bottom easily ... like in our old swimming pool. Fish everywhere. We think they expected to be fed, so we didn't disappoint them. Above George feeds them by hand and to the right Pat throws bread crumbs while Dave gets a close up view.	It was good to have the boat out again. We took a different way back to our marina going through sisters creek. We saw a lot of pretty (pricy) homes. This isn't your normal Indiana creek. Ya all will have to come down to see it ... no pictures taken :-) Below picture was taken sometime last week when we traveled by car to Key West. There was suppose to be some kind of pirate festival going on, but we were to early to see many "pirates". Heading home this Tuesday .... burrrrrr!

11-26-2010		Yesterday we celebrated Thanksgiving day with our friends Pat and George. It was a very different Thanksgiving for Dave and Joyce ... 80 degree weather, open air restaurant on the Atlantic ocean. Where are the snow and deer hunters? We really didn't suffer too much. The buffet was great. Turkey, prime rib and all the fixings. Today we go back to work. It is time to give Joysea a good scrubbing. Tomorrow we are having a guy clean and wax the hull. Joycie has begun to clean out the bunk room in order to prepare for guests. Dave has installed a standard antenna mount on the top deck of Joysea and is waiting for his wifi antenna to arrive so that he can pick up a stronger signal. There seems to be a never ending list of projects ... but we are not complaining!

11-24-2010	We had a manatee visit us in our little harbor yesterday. Someone left the fresh water hose run and the picture to the right shows the "little" guy floating on his back drinking water. Evidentially, they love fresh water. Captain George and Joyce watching from slip 27. This manatee was not full grown, but still look big to us!	Joyce in one of the tropical parts of the resort ... check out grandma's new (short) hair do!

11-23-2010	The Banana Bay resort is not a fancy place but has the old Key look. Joyce is standing in a picnic area with grass huts, grills and picnic tables. They have a nice swimming pool with a tiki bar and another tiki bar over looking the gulf. We will take a few more pictures of this place later.	We have been very busy doing some maintenance work on the boat. Yesterday we replaced most of the internal zincs ... what a job that is! You have to be a contortionist to get into some of the small places around the equipment. Below, Joycie ,lying on her stomach, crammed herself into the rear end of Joysea (actually you are looking at both rear ends) in order to get to the single zinc on the generator. Dave would like to have a nice talk with the designer of the placement of the zinc. We had to remove a hose just to get to the zinc ... it was a bigger than should have been job. Captain George helped identify the 11 zincs on the main engine and Dave (with the help of George) replace most of them ... going to order more zincs today. We don't know what we would have done without George and Pat ... what a learning experience. We are working our tails off, but are probably in the best shape we have been in for years!

11-20-2010	We left Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina early yesterday morning ... what a learning experience. First, a little background. Joysea, Joycie and Dave read a lot of "Skipper Bob" books. Skipper Bob was a very conservative boater who authored a lot of information about the Great Loop with emphasis on safety. One of his biggest rules was that you don't take the boat out in bad weather. Well Skipper Bob was never a sailor ... and let me tell you, sailors are a different breed. Captain George and tall George are sailors (converted to cruisers). We had another captain, Captain Joe, who took us under his wings for 5 days and he also was a sailor. Sailors really understand wind, current, tides and all the other stuff that takes your vessel where you don't want it to go. Before leaving yesterday, Dave was thinking no way Skipper Bob would leave this nice save marina today. Joysea was pinned to the dock with strong wind and waves. Dave knew that the bow thrusters would be useless with that kind of force and didn't see how it would be possible to leave the dock without crashing or mashing Joysea. Well George and George to the rescue with another sailor technique. They had Joysea 's bow line secured to the dock and other lines released. They had (a terrified) Dave put Joysea in forward gear with a hard left turn which pushed Joysea's stern (butt) from the dock and allowed Dave to go in reverse gear (with the pedal to the medal) and backed Joysea safely away into water with room to maneuver. It was so smooth ... another sailor trick to put in the books.	This is early morning having coffee on top of Joysea with a view of our backyard on the Gulf coast (Banana Bay Resort) . This is really going to be difficult to take:-) We will probably post a few more pictures of the resort but will slow down the blog until we start the Great Loop in the spring. We plan to take Joysea out during the winter months to visit some islands and snorkel in close by coral reefs. Those trips we plan to put on the blog ... plus any pictures of visitors ... so ya all come down!

11-18-2010	We left around 7 am in cloudy, but comfortable weather. When we got to Biscayne Bay captain George hailed us on our VHF and told us to look down in the water. It was almost like swimming pool water. We were in about 10 feet of water and you could easily see the bottom. Later we notice a large military aircraft flying around and saw military parachuting and dropping into the water. Smaller boats would later pick them up and another group of 4 to 6 parachutist would jump. The things you see in the Keys ... and we are sure this is just the beginning of different things we will see! We decided not to anchor out tonight. Instead we traveled another 20 miles to Plantation Yacht Harbor Marina on Plantation Key. Tomorrow we will be arriving in Banana Bay marina/resort before noon .... party time!	The dolphins really put on a show for us today. Earlier in the trip captain Dave kept hearing loud slapping sounds like someone was throwing boulders at us. At first we couldn't see anything but then looking starboard we saw dolphins leaping out of the water next to Joysea at doing what looked like belly floppers. Of course when Joycie went for the camera they disappeared. But not for long! I think Joysea liked the company and knew that these playful things could swim circles around her. They actually swam quite a while right next to Joysea and Dave managed to get many pictures. We wished we had a video camera. The speed and agility of these creatures is amazing.

11-17-2010	Left this very nice yacht club this morning heading for another club south of Miami. Joycie poising on top deck of Joysea ... who is getting an inferior complex parking next to all of the mega-yachts.	Below, an ICW view of Miami. It was a hot run today with more bridges. We are finally done with bridges and will be in Key Largo tomorrow and the following day, Marathon ... Banana Bay marina/resort ... yeah!!!

11-16-2010	We had a nice anchorage yesterday and Joycie served pasta, marinara sauce, shrimp with all the fixings on the upper deck of Joysea. Picture above is simply Joysea throwing her wake around. This morning we left for Royal Palm Yacht Club only 36 miles down the ICW. However, we had to go under 13 bridges. Some bridges only open at certain times, however Captain George did his usual great job of timing the arrivals ... in spite of only having use of one engine. One engine started to heat up so he had to shut it down. Hopefully tomorrow Reflections will be feeling better and we will head to Miami to the Coral Reef Yacht Club, approximately 44 miles down the ICW	Reflection leading the way as usual. Note large cruise ship in background. No, it did not run aground, but sort of looks that way. One of the many bridges. This one had to be up for us to get under it.

11-14-2010		Joycie and Joysea getting ready to cast off for the Moorings Club. We left a little before 7 am and arrived around 2 pm. We made one stop at a marina in Vero Beach in order to fuel up. We then proceeded to the Moorings Club and had to zig-sag thru a real obstacle course. When we finally arrived at the Club there was one boat and a very few small slips. Usually you call the marinas and get help at the docks. This club doesn't monitor any VHS channels and the help we finally got worked in the restaurant. All communication was by hand signal! You might think this club is a dump ... but it is not. They just aren't into boats. They have swimming, tennis, restaurants and a Pete Dye golf course with spectacular water views. No denim is allowed on club premises ... pretty classy ... or stuffy depending on how you view things! We are tired. Two dockings in one day is a lot for us rookies. Tomorrow we head for Lake Worth, Fl and will be anchoring out.

11-13-2010	Left our anchorage as planned at 10:00 am. We had a lazy float to our next marina traveling around 6.5 kts. Captain George did not want to get to the yacht club before 2pm ... and that was the time we arrived. We had a lot of fun trying to get Reflection and Joysea into there assigned slips because of the wind. Dave didn't think Joysea was ever going to get her butt parked. She finally managed to back in which was really not in the plans. Tomorrow we head for Vero Beach and will be staying at the Moorings Club.	Above Joysea waits for Reflection to pull anchor. Tall George is on the bow deck, but you can't see him very well.

11-12-2010	We arrived at the Titusville, FL anchorage around 1:30 pm. It was a nice ride with a lot of sun and some wind to cool us off. Above we are at anchor and its happy hour time aboard Joysea's upper helm (keeping out of the wind ... still gets a little chilly in the evening). Later in the evening we boarded Reflection for a nice grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, with many side dishes, dinner. Okay, okay so I screwed up! cousin George is really sailling club friend George ... don't ask me where I got the cousin thing from.	Stay tuned in because "friend" George (now referred to as "tall" George (6'4''), has been taking video of our cruising and will be posting them on UTube. After they are posted Dave will publish links in the blog. It is a shame that there is no upcoming space shuttle launching. This anchorage is one of the best places to watch them. It is hard to see in the above picture but the little background spec is where they assemble and launch the shuttle. Tomorrow we head for Eau Gallie Yacht Club in Eau Gallie, FL. It is a short ride so we are sleeping in, having sausage and eggs for breakfast and pulling anchor around 10 am.

11-11-2010	We had a great day on the ICW today. Left St. Augustine a little before 7:00 am and arrived at the Halifax River Yacht Club at 1pm. Above admiral Joycie gives captain Dave a 5 minute break ... the break was not long enough and he is thinking about writing her up (sailors' union). Actually the admiral gave him several breaks. It was very hot today even with the windows open.	Below, another view of the ICW close to Daytona Beach. Pat and George have another crew member today. They picked up George's cousin, George, at the yacht club today. George ... actually both Georges will be going all the way to Marathon. We haven't told them yet, but Joycie and Joysea are planning to get cousin George on board for a day or two of cruising. Tomorrow we head for an anchorage around Titusville, FL. It will be a 54 mile trip ... looking forward to it!

11-10-2010	We planned to leave the dock at 7am but had to wait for fog to lift so left the dock at 8:15 am. We were out about 15 minutes and got stuck in fog ... again! We hate radar days and this time Reflection threw out her anchor. Joysea decided to maintain her position without anchoring but always had Refection in eye sight. We had to maintain our position for over 2 hours and the only enjoyable part was watching all of the dolphins jump around Joysea (above picture). Lesson learned: Joysea needs another anchor setup with a lot of chain on the rode. We won't bore you with the technicalities of anchoring but feel free to ask Dave if interested. We think that a chain necklace (anchor) will be a nice Christmas present for Joysea (and the other Joycie gets to pay for it)	We finally left for our anchorage in a river that runs thru St. Augustine around 11:00 am. Captain George decided we had to run at 10 knots in order to get to our destination before dark. It was a beautiful day with a lot of photo opportunities ... we wish we could publish them all. Below is the ICW in between Jacksonville and St. Augustine. Many, many lovely homes (mansions). The below picture is just after we went under a bridge in St. Augustine on our way to anchorage ... which didn't happen. We didn't like the anchorage so stayed in a marina. Next stop Daytona Beach!

11-09-2010	We decided to have two updates for 11-9-2010 because we may not have Internet access tomorrow. We arrived at Fernandina Harbor Marina around 12:30 pm. We had a nice smooth ride on the open ocean. Right before we arrived at the St. Mary's channel, we heard a VHF call about it being closed because of a submarine going through. It is hard to see in the picture above, but Joysea and Reflection were close enough to give it a proper salute.	Pat, Joyce, George and Dave shared a taxi ride to a Publix grocery store in Fernandina Beach. Afterwards Joyce and Dave walk along one of the main streets downtown. The town is one to remember. We have been here before by car and love it. Below Dave is standing in front of the Palace Saloon, the oldest saloon in Florida. It was once the haunt of America's most famous, including the Rockefellers, Vanderbilts, Duponts, and Carnegie ... at least that is what the guide book says. Anchoring out around St. Augustine tomorrow. Plan to leave around 7am.

11-09-2010	We went under the Sidney Lainer fixed bridge (vertical clearance 185 ft.) and arrived in Brunswick, Ga. around 1pm yesterday, Joysea again following in Reflection's wake. The marina we stayed in is Brunswick Landing and is right downtown. Joyce and Dave took a walk downtown while Pat did laundry ... we couldn't find Captain George.	The town is another very quaint river down with lots of shrimp boats near by. Dave & Joyce found a shrimp boat and bought 2 lbs of fresh shrimp for $8 ... eat your hearts out! We have been forgetting to mention all of the dolphins we have been seeing in NC, SC and now Georgia. They like to play in the wake of our vessels and some even like to play "chicken" with Reflection and Joysea ... who of course don't back down. Leaving today for Fernandina Beach, Florida .... yeah!! We will be traveling via the ocean and not the ICW. Also, we made reservation in Marathon at Black Fin marina/resort which is right next to Banana Bay. We will be staying there for several months beginning February 14th.

11-08-2010	Yesterday we left this beautiful yacht club and headed for an anchorage in the Dubin River a little north of Brunswick, GA. We met several of George and Pat's friends here and had a marvelous dinner. Joyce had scallops as big as small hamburgers and Dave had a seafood pie stuffed with lobster, crab, shrimp and who knows what else. The club is not your typical (Cataract) club. We had a live piano player during dinner and the facilities include 11 tennis courts and 2 swimming pools.	We snapped the picture on left before we left the marina yesterday. Last night we had dinner with Pat and George on Reflection. It was a great meal and Dave even got to watch the Colts play ... and lose:-( It seemed strange sitting out in this remote river with little cell phone coverage watching a football game. Some how, Captain George was able to pick up a very clear over the air channel. This morning Joycie is cleaning up dishes (too tired to do last night). We will be pulling the anchor and heading out soon for a marina in Brunswick.

11-05-2010	It was a long cold day today, so no pictures. We left for Beaufort, SC around 7:10 am. It was a long and cold 70 mile run. The sun was shining but, none the less, it was cold. We had to crank up the speed (10 knots ... $$$$) in order to hit the tide right at one trouble spot in the ICW and arrived at the Port Royal Landing Marina around 2:30 am. After getting settled in we used the courtesy truck to restock our ship store at Wal-Mart.	We were told at the dock that today was the annual customer appreciation day and that catered barbeque, beer and wine were to be served at 6 pm. What great timing! We had our normal, but shortened, happy hour and hustle off to the celebration. The food was delicious! The caterer cooked/smoked the pulled pork and chicken right at the marina. Captain George was in heaven because he loves chicken ... and Dave agreed that it was the best barbequed chicken he has ever eaten. Tomorrow we leave for Savannah, GA. As you might have guessed, our mission at this time is not to do the tourist thing, but to get to Florida and warm weather. We will do the tourist gig when we begin the "Great Loop" next spring.

11-04-2010	We waiting in Georgetown this morning for the fog to lift. At 8:50 am everything looked "good to go". About 30 minutes out everything turn to soup ... yep, you guessed it, another radar day. We lost sight of Reflection for 10 -15 minutes, but had her in our radar. We weren't real comfortable with the situation, but Margaret and Carl, at least we had radar:-) The fog really didn't lift until around 11:30 am, but then the rain hit. Joyce and Dave decided to go to the lower helm to get out of the weather. Since we had rain-x'd our windows we could see very good, but Dave missed the GPS system. We followed Reflection and kept a close eye on our dept gauge. We arrived safely at the Harborage at Ashley Marina in Charleston, SC around 4:00 . In spite of the horrible weather we made great time. Leaving tomorrow for Beaufort, SC.

11-03-2010		Left for Georgetown at 7:30 and arrived at 11:30. Cloudy and cool today. Rain is forecasted for tomorrow however we will head for Charleston, SC anyway. It will be a long day (68 miles) so we will get an early as possible start. Georgetown is a real nice river town. Many shops and restaurants. After we ate at a local restaurant, Dave and Joycie took a long walk shopping. The women needed things. Joycie some gin and Joysea a check valve for the stern bilge pump. Now that Joysea doesn't leak (except where she is suppose to leak ... stuffing box), she is having trouble getting rid of a little water because it flows back thru the discharge plumbing. No luck finding stuff for Joysea but had some luck for Joycie ... lucky for Dave. He'd rather have Joysea mad at him than Joycie.

11-02-2010	We slept in today and left Myrtle Beach Yacht Club around 10 am and arrived at Osprey Marina around 2 pm. It was an easy day but the weather was cloudy and cool. We passed what we think is one of our Blue - Green time-share condos along the ICW in Myrtle Beach (picture below). Tomorrow we leave for Georgetown, SC. It will be another relatively short day since we will only be traveling 31 miles .	Going into Osprey Marina is like going into a hidden swamp. Captain George called Dave and said to follow him in but to keep between the very narrow markers. Well Captain George takes off and goes around a bend and by the time Dave gets to the bend Reflection has disappeared. We spot the entrance and follow the narrow creek back to the marina. When we get Joysea close to the slip the deck hand says to flip Joysea around. Now folks, there isn't a lot of room to spin Joysea around and Dave tells the dock hand that Joysea doesn't flip very well. Well actually she flipped pretty well and tomorrow morning we have a straight shot out so it should be an easy departure. The dock hand told Joycie that she looked scared to death ... I guess he couldn't see the look on Dave's face.

11-01-2010	We left Wrightsville, NC this morning at 7:15 am and arrived at the Myrtle Beach Yacht Club in SC around 3 pm. We bypassed SouthPort, NC in order to make up some time. The picture above is a parade of boats crossing Cape Fear.	We had a great experience going through Pontoon bridge. It is the craziest bridge you can imagine. It is sort of like a pontoon and swings open ... we think by perhaps an out-board motor. We will be some of the last boats to go through this because the new bridge is ready to open. It looked like they were having some kind of opening cremonies when we went through. Many people on the bridge waving at the boats as we went under them ... really kind of exciting.

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