I can't recall the last time the wind blew from a direction other than NE or N. It's a good thing we're southbound. Last night while we were parked in a nicely protected marina there were gusts to 40 knots. The marina is the Amelia Island Yacht Basin just south of Fernandina Beach, Florida. We'll stay here another night so we can do some shopping and maybe bicycle touring today while we let the winds simmer down just a little. Our not so frugal budget allows a few marina stays (this is our third) and a few restaurant meals (three of those as well) so we're living high. Yesterday we used the free courtesy car to drive to a nearby bike shop for an inner tube to replace the one punctured by sand burrs. Should have had some spares with us.

We spent Monday and yesterday at Cumberland Island, always my favorite stop along the way. It's a national park with shady, sandy lanes for biking under a canopy of Spanish moss, huge dunes where wild horses wander, a hard packed beach for effortless bike riding just above the surf line, a magnificent ruined estate, peaceful marshes and a good anchorage with dinghy dock. Everywhere on the island looks like an illustration from a book of gentle fairy tales. It's perfect except for the sand burrs, and when a north wind is predicted to kick in at 40 knots in the middle of the night and we have to leave.

But back to Beaufort where I last wrote. We spent two nights there and enjoyed one of those restaurant meals at Nippy's seafood shack. If you're ever there I highly recommend the blackened shrimp. Make it a Thursday night, as we did, when there's live music and a bean bag tossing (corn-holing they call it) tournament. Make sure you visit the Cafe & Market on Carteret as well.

After Beaufort we had two days with NE winds strong enough to sail the entire day inside on the waterway. Sure, we had plenty of jibes but they're no trouble with just the genny flying. And when sailing you never need to slow down for passing power boats.

Lately we've been seeing many more power boats than sail boats heading south. That's probably because so many more of them pass us. At Cumberland Island the boats were nearly all sail and more than half were Canadian. Most of the Canadians seem like first timer travelling in pairs or larger groups, which is what I've usually found in the past.

We've made it to Florida a couple of days earlier than I expected when we left home. That's a measure of how well everything has gone this trip. We're likely to be in the Bahamas very early next month.