The Intracoastal Waterway

As  we did not want to do any more long open ocean passages we availed ourselves to the Intracoastal Waterway.  This is a system of dug canals connecting a whole series of lakes, swamps, inlets and allows shallower draught vessel the ability to traverse it's 3000 mile length without having to face the challenges of the open sea.  It is a remarkable feat of engineering and we were very grateful to the US Army Engineers for building the system.
On our journey north we passed by the Kennedy compound, big bucks here and were awed by some of the homes and the residential developments.  We managed a stop at Titusville and were on hand for the launch of Challenger.  It was different anchored in a lagoon with alligators swimming around the boat, no getting into the water here!  Disneyworld was only a hop skip and jump from here, we spent a day there and one day at Epcot, who had more fun - the children or the parents, the jury is still out.  Of course, no Florida vacation would be complete without a trip to Seaworld to see Shamu. 
We slogged our way north under engine, thank you Volvo, as there was no way to sail and very little wind anyway.  Our journey took us past what appeared antebellum homes, outstanding to say the least.  The path through the swamps with the trees with trailing moss brought back images from Stephen Kings books, eerie.

We were amazed at the number of bridges and each and every one opened just for us, not once did we have to call to have one opened, the bridge master saw us coming and presto it opens!  The amount of wildlife was astounding, eagles,  osprey, and many brown pelicans.  Did I maention the dolphins, it seemed that they were always with us.

 All in all it took us about 6 weeks to get to our final destination of Urbanna, Virginia.  On the way we met some incredible people who could not do enough for this ragamuffin family living on a small sailboat.
We left the boat here in Urbanna for 3 years before shipping her on the I90 all the way to Bellingham, Washington.