Our first stop in Florida was Fernandina, the pretty town between the factories on Amelia Island. We docked nose-to-nose with Double Down, a 214-ft yacht that made our boat look like a tender.

We walked the town, finding good music along the way.

Next stop was Jacksonville, where we celebrated Curtis’s birthday with Chrissie and new friends from the dock.

Then on to St Augustine, for lunch with Joe and Diane, and more music and fun!

We cruised past Daytona Beach to New Smyrna,

and then on to Melbourne.

A day we expected to be long and fairly boring became more exciting as we cruised past a rocket launch from Cape Canaveral.

And then some dolphin friends swam beside us for several minutes. It seemed they were watching us as much as we were watching them. They were amazing!

We made a quick stop at lovely Fort Pierce.

Then cruised past gorgeous Jupiter and Palm Beach,

and saw many enormous yachts that had relocated from Fort Lauderdale during the recent boat show.

The weather was beautiful as we reached Fort Lauderdale, and we enjoyed walking the town, watching the boats on New River, and great dinners with John and Sheila.

When Hurricane Nicole started working her way through Florida, we doubled the lines on the boat and waited out the storm.

Eventually the wind and waters calmed, so we headed out to the Atlantic and cruised past Miami on our way to the Keys.

We made a stop at Key Largo, had breakfast at Alligator Reef the next morning,

and made fun visits to Islamorada

and Marathon.

Finally, after eight months of travel, we reached our winter destination: Key West.

Our happy place!