Day 21 of My Captivity

For 21 days, I have been held in captivity by the strange creatures known as boat people. When we left Marsh Harbor, these creatures started out being good and kind. The sun was shining. We had a good breeze. Then they started. I could sense that this was a ruse by the creature known as Terry to make sure that only he had access to the good tasting foodstuffs.... I thought this would be a fun way to start the tale of our crossing from Marsh Harbor to St. Augustine. After all, we had just purchased really great groceries at the wonderful grocery store in Marsh Harbor. It was the first time in the voyage that the grocery store looked somewhat like what one would expect in the states. If I learned nothing else on this trip, I found out that Americans have no idea how fortunate they are to be able to go to Food Lion and buy shrimp BOGO. In most of the islands, shrimp cost $35 to $45 a pound! And, the choices for fresh fruits and veggies were very limited. I came prepared with a whole booklet of recipes - most of which I did not use because the ingredients were just too expensive. Other recipes that I did use required that I get the ingredients in the cart before Carol or Peggy could see the price, gag, and put the stuff back on the shelf. So, being able to buy all sorts of food in Marsh Harbor AND not cringe was very exciting. Having the weather turn nasty, getting sick, and not enjoying all the great food purchases was really annoying! The trip to St. Augustine was arduous in that the weather did turn nasty. It seemed that Sam and Howard felt the need to give us one more gift of bad weather. We were back in the washing machine. We were tossing and turning. And, yes, it continued to rain. And thunder. And lightning. Or so they tell me. I spent my time sleeping. Still, it was a great adventure. LUX continues to out perform our expectations. She is a mighty good ship. That is even with the fact that Mike is currently replacing the low pressure fuel pump. His McGyver tricks finally stopped working altogether. Wait until you see the great shots of him lying on the deck with his head in the engine compartment while the seas roil. Wish I had been clever enough to shoot video.