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The Camp
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The River
Before coming, we did a little more exploring around the Saint Augustine area.  Besides boats, Harry loves trains and old cars, so he was in heaven.  Out in the country we found a train club, and Harry was even allowed to drive (but without passengers). 
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Car, St. Augustine
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daily cruise boat, St. Augustine
We're in Louisiana to attend Harry's 50th high school reunion, and we are so lucky that this time we can stay with his sister at her friend's camp on the river.  What a treat.  From the time we saw Rob and Renee in NO, it seems like we have done nothing but eat and talk.  For Sunday lunch for the 4 of us, we had 12 pounds of crawfish and 3 pounds of boiled shrimp!  Then here at the camp we had a memorial day cook out. Fresh grilled Copper River salmon Emmy carried back with her on the plane from Seattle, a large barbecued brisket, and 3 deserts. Next, it was juicy fried catfish topped with crawfish etouffe.   I won't continue, but you get the idea...

The really wonderful thing is being at the camp. In LA, a camp is a rustic week-end place, usually on a river or lake. This one is on high ground right by the Tangipoa River in Ponchatoula, so it is convenient yet a world away. The camp is a big square building, but only half has solid walls, and the kitchen, bath and shower are there. The rest all has short walls with screen above, a big table for meals, and beds lined up on the porch for sleeping. No TV, no traffic noise--just the insects and the frogs and the owls at night.
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Harry gets to drive!
 
We are now in Saint Augustine, waiting in a wonderful marina while we have all our well worn cockpit canvas replaced.  Since we have now completed our circumnavigation and have decided not to "do oceans" anymore, we have lots of offshore blue-water gear and spares that we won't need for the coastal cruising we have planned for the next few years.  All of this is listed for sale on the Cruisers Forum, but we cannot seem to post photos there, so here they are:
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Autohelm ST-6000+ control head
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back of autopilot control head
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code zero
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code zero furler
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Profurl C42 drum
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riding sail, to control sailing at anchor
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Lewmar Wireless Windlass control pn 68000844
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merriman single and double blocks
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Lewmar wireless windlass transmitter
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assorted power cables and adapters
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4JH3E exhaust mixer elbow
 
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Now let's see. How far to ???
Yes, it has been over a month since the last entry, so obviously we have been having a great time and not looking too hard for internet connections.  The Bahamas have very few free connections, since most of the boats there seem to go for the entire winter so they subscribe to monthly wifi service.  We kind of enjoyed the break from constant connections. 

After a week in the well-known cruiser destination of Georgetown,  where winter cruisers organize activities almost everyday, culminating in a 2 week regatta at the end of the season, we moved on to Cat Island and then overnight up to the Abacos.  We skipped this group on our way down in 1999, so we wanted to visit.  The area is beautiful for sure, but with our draft--which is only 5 1/2 feet-- we had to be very careful and watch the bottom and the tides all the time.  Average depth seems to be less than our keel, so we managed to hit bottom twice in our 2 weeks there.  Oh well, at least there are no more barnacles on the bottom of the keel.

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