Arrived on the West coast

Here in Tampa, damn hot so we're going for a dip and a beer at a local beach bar. This is the view from our room.

Probably coming to a TV near you soon

We are heading South now and to break the journey we stayed overnight in Beaufort, not pronounced as we would but Beefort. We were flicking through the TV channels last night trying to find something to watch, when we came across Tattoo Wars.  This is a programme where competing Tattoo artists play to find the champion, each level introducing greater levels of complexity.  They do a real tattoo on a real person and then the judges comment on the artistry then one individual gets knocked out.  Yes real tattoos on real people who were getting their backs covered in some fantasy muscle man and then hearing how bad the shading on the arm is and how the colours don't blend in well.  And as we know, just like a puppy at Christmas, Tattoos are for life not just for the show.  The competitors were an interesting bunch being good exponents of their own art and covered suitably with pictures.  You read it here first.

Elegant Charleston

Apparently Conde Naste has voted this city as the best in the world.
Well I wouldn't go as far as that but it certainly is pretty and
historical. This was where the Civil war started and prior to that it
was one of the busiest ports in America. God fearing folk too, more
churches than anywhere else we've been too so far.

Charleston

Another day and another State, now in South Carolina. We stopped off
at the Middleton Estate, this was a Plantation run with African slaves
by a settling British family, not for the production of cotton but
rice . Beautiful grounds with lots of animals and some interesting
exhibits like these original carriages. And still the skies are
cloudless, fabulous weather.

Savannah

We have had a wonderful day walking the streets of this lovely city.
Fantastic squares of great elegance and history, to top of the day
there was a Parade of Sail with fireworks on the river. Off to
Charleston tomorrow and our most Northerly point on this trip.

Savannah

OK this isn't the greatest view in the world, but looking out from our hotel room this morning I don't see anything but blue skies. Thought I might mention it. Off shortly to look around this lovely historic city.

Jacksonville

As the rest of America gorges itself on Thanksgiving turkey and cranberry, smothered in cheese probably, as everything else seems to be served that way.  We fruitlessly walked the sun drenched streets of this fair city.  Nowhere is open and we are benefiting from an enforced diet, oh well the sun is shining and this is the view from our room, not bad for £36 a night.

Flagler College and some tourist momentos.

It was a beautiful day here in St. Augustine, not a cloud in the sky
and temperatures in the high 60's (we've gone imperial like everyone
here) This town has been invaded and occupied by many including our
own Francis Drake who is clearly regarded as being a pirate. We took
the tourist road train around the town dropping off to visit the
Flagler College which is a magnificent building, specialising in
Liberal Arts? There are always opportunities to purchase little items
to take home, like these aligator heads.
Tomorrow we continue North to Jacksonville and Thanksgiving. Pity the
poor sales staff who have to open the doors that evening to start the
Black Friday sales.

And onwards North

Last night we stayed in a quirky motel at Daytona Beach, in the
pursuit of cheapness we booked the room over the reception with a
great view of the highway. But it was comfy and the Kon Tiki
restaurant next door provided us a good fried shrimp with three sauces
dinner. By the way that is our BMW X3 hire car, which is lovely to
drive and maybe at the end of the fortnight I'll have worked out what
all those buttons do.

To get away from the concrete we went walking around one of the many
National Parks here in Florida, Favers-Dykes. Seems that the British
were here many years ago and manged to remove all the locals shortly
after they arrived.

Off to the moon because we can

Today it was off to the Cape Canaveral Space Centre to look at rockets
and other such space paraphernalia. Fantastic audio visual displays
particularly the Imax theatre with its 3D film of the space station.
We have now driven about 50 miles north and are staying overnight at
Daytona Beach, and it's just like Oban overcast with a strong breeze
accompanied with drizzle.

1st day in Florida

Did ourselves proud last night by managing to stay awake till 3 in the
morning UK time, 22:00 here. Up at the crack of dawn and we visited a
local lake, of which there are many around here. We took an hour long
boat trip about the shores and the narrow canals with a guided tour
from the old fellow pointing out where all the poor folk have to live
on the waterfront, see example above. Lovely and warm day and a good
start to the holiday.

Home and then off again

I came back from the wild west to Glasgow a couple of days ago.  Time to sort through the post and get a hangover from last night, drinking something called Hopoclypse Yale.  This with a nod to the Marlon Brando film,  "I love the smell of freshly burnt hops in the morning."
Despite there being some lovely days here in Scotland with clear blue skies and frosty starts in the morning, for my leave this time we have decided that there isn't that many good days and are heading off tomorrow to Orlando in Florida, where there is rarely frost but quite often blue skies.
Hopefully there will be places in America where they have the Internet so I can update our progress.  We have hired a car and intend travelling about a bit to Savannah and Atlanta among other places.
Adios for now.

Cleaner seas?

Some changes to the MARPOL (Marine Pollution) regulations, which apply to our vessel, are coming in at the beginning of 2013.  No solid food can be put into the sea when a vessel is within 3 miles of the coast, when more than 3 miles away then food waste can be discharged into to the sea but has to go through a sieve with a maximum of 25 mm/1 inch spacing.  On our run we are never more than 3 miles away from the land so we are no longer able to deposit any solid food waste of any size into the sea.

Now we have been in the habit of putting a lot of food waste, peelings, plate scrapings etc. through a macerator which turns them into a fine soup before going over the side.  From January 1^st we can no longer do this and all of our waste is going into extra thick and strong plastic bags to be deposited into a skip ashore here in Oban.  This will eventually end up in land fill as there are no facilities for organic waste here.

As I see it the fish are losing out on an easy meal and the planet gets a load of plastic and landfill.  This is progress.

Out and about the west coast.

Amazing bit of seasonal weather, cold frosty mornings with blue skies and sunshine, not for long at this time of year but they make for great sunrises and sets.

This is looking across at the hills beyond Oban, Ben Cruachan I think.

And a bit closer to show off the snow cover, notice the smoky cloud coming off the peak.  The trip down and back to Colonsay today was fabulous, we go down one way and back by another route so that our ten passengers with their three cars could have a different view.