In The Dog House

Christmas Day started out quite rainy, so we put together a small gingerbread dog house that we recently bought a kit for at Tractor Supply. Neither one of us had ever made a gingerbread house before so this was a good way to start out. It didn't turn out too bad, complete with icicles hanging from the roof (and dog poo🤣), but you can tell we are beginners.

Next year we will upgrade and get a bigger one, like the barn or chicken coop that we saw (we always want to different 😁). For now though, we're not in the dog house, the dog house is in us! It tasted pretty yummy too!

Day Trip

La Nina has been living up to its prediction of gloomy, rainy weather in the south this winter. A few days ago, we did get to take a day trip north to Port Canaveral. This was another nostalgic trip for us since we used to camp at Jetty Park along the beach, port, and inlet. It was so much fun when we used to see scallop trawlers and cruise ships come in the inlet at all times of the day and night. We were hoping to relive that a bit, but unfortunately you can only go into Jetty Park now with passes acquired online in advance. However, there is a boat launch ramp right next to Jetty Park that backs up to one of the cruise ship terminals. We were shocked at the size of one of the latest Carnival ships Mardi Gras. 

It was named after the first ship they had in service. What a difference since the 1970s!

We remembered how to navigate the roads around the port looking for a restaurant to have lunch at. Most served seafood, which must be fresh with the trawlers still coming in, but that didn't help us since we don't eat it. We managed to find a nice quiet place right on the water with food we could eat and a spectacular view of the busy port, along with more behemoth cruise ships. 

Then it was time for even more nostalgia with a stop at the famous Ron Jon Surf Shop in Cocoa Beach. 

It must have been at least 20 years ago when we were there last and had brought our (then) young niece and nephew with us. We gave each of them $5 to see what they could find to buy. We certainly would have to up the stakes now because it didn't look like anything in the whole store was that cheap! Ron Jon has a racket going since you spend lots of money and they get free advertising because EVERYTHING has their name on it.

Maybe I should turn my PT Cruiser Convertible into a Woody Wagon...

We had one more stop to make on our trip and that was for the serenity of Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge just south of Sebastian Inlet. This was the first designated National Refuge in the system back in 1903. 

We walked the Centennial Trail and boardwalk which shows when the different parks became part of the system. 

It ends at an overlook of Pelican Island and the Indian River. 

This last photo is for my family and they will understand why. 😉

We had another great time reminiscing on this trip and hopefully we will be able to have a few more days like this!

Holiday Spirit

Here are some festive night scenes of decorated homes around our park and the annual golf cart parade and luminary display:

Happy holidays everyone! 

Here We Go Again

The gale winds have beached boats again. One of the boats is the same as last time and one of them still has people on board. At least they aren't up against the seawall, so hopefully there is minimal damage.

This catamaran originally was aground on the seawall on the north side of the Causeway after the first storm of the season. Then it was moved to the south side and it looks to be taking on water and sitting on the bottom in shallow water.

We always thought that the Jensen Beach mooring field was poorly conceived with it being so open to the east and southeast winds. This year's weather certainly proves it. Sea Tow and Towboat US will be busy! 

Wild Night

What a wild night we had! It was rainy and windy most of yesterday, but once it was dark, the storm really kicked into high gear. It was deafening in our place at times, but then suddenly it would stop until the next squall hit us...unless you opened the door and realized that it was still pouring and blowing, but just not quite as hard as when we were in the red on the radar.

We have one more rain band before the weather clears a bit. The storm has moved north from Florida and will be affecting my sister in NH and our house in NY. As my brother in Port Orange, FL said, we are going to share it with them. 🤣

Footnote: I don't think the rain gauge works at the beach. I checked another source that said we have received almost 3 1/2" of rain in the last 24 hours. The total seems like it should be higher, but that is probably because the rain was blowing sideways.

Whitewater

We are back to gloomy skies and gale winds. It was quite dynamic going beachside this morning and quite fun for a few minutes trying to stand up and take a couple of photos. We (and Mustang Sally) were covered with salt spray. Sea foam was blowing over the dunes and across the road. This is Chastain Beach, which is just south of the House of Refuge Museum. We had to run up the walkway everytime the waves hit the rocks (I was laughing, but Dave wasn't 😉).

This is looking south towards Bathtub Reef Beach, which is still under construction to put up a seawall and replenish the sand, which looks to be a losing battle with Mother Nature. We can't help to wonder how long this house can survive.

On the way back across the Stuart bridge I checked what the actual wind was blowing back towards the beaches. No wonder the ocean is all whitewater!

Fort's Port

This morning's kayak trip was through the Port at Fort Pierce. There are always ships, yachts, and barges to see, and today we also saw a manatee and a dolphin close by. The 158 ft. Legacy has been anchored here for several years now, along with the barges in the background.

The Derecktor Shipyard had a few more large yachts in it, and the 'Band of Gold' fishing trawler came into the dock while we were paddling. 

We couldn't resist checking out this sunken fly bridge cruiser that was awash with the very low tide.

 

The most fun though, was going under the bow of this freight boat 'Monarch Princess' that has also been in the port for a couple of years. 

What a perfect photo shot, and another great adventure. Dave is so lucky to have a wife that likes looking at boats and ships, almost as much as he does! 😉