The 28-hour overnight passage took it out of us. It took us all of Sunday, and also Monday, to recover. I thought I could stay up without taking a nap on the day of our arrival, but, alas, I could not keep my eyes open by early afternoon. I succumbed to sleep for a couple of hours. Before sleeping, I placed the mandatory call to Customs and Border Protection to notify them of my arrival from the Bahamas. He took all my information and notified me I had 24 hours to show up in person (with Cindy) at the CBP office at Port Canaveral to finalize clearing in to the country. On Sunday evening, our good friends, Tim and Annie, took us to Shiloh’s Restaurant, where we all had steak to celebrate our reunion and our return from four months in the Bahamas. It was so nice!
On Monday morning, Tim was kind enough to drive us to the Hertz rental car agency to pick up our car that we reserved for the next four weeks. After a very speedy check-in, we drove off in our brand new Toyota Camry, destination: Port Canaveral. Thirty minutes later, we had arrived at the CBP office which was located in the midst of all the cruise ship terminals. The officer at the window asked for our documents and asked for us to wait for a moment. Three or four minutes later, he returned to the window and said, “Thank you very much!” Now, that was easy! And, also, seemed pointless. I’m not sure exactly what this accomplished or why it was necessary, but at least it was relatively painless.
From there, we went to Sam’s Club in Cocoa, where we experienced a little culture shock. After our time in the Bahamas, we were overwhelmed with the massive amount of food (and other things) for such reasonable prices. We bought 36-packs of Diet Pepsi for what we paid for a 6-pack (when we could find it, which wasn’t often) in the Bahamas. After picking up a few things, we had lunch, and then bought a few groceries at Publix, before returning to the boat.
I spent the afternoon working on blogs. Cindy did some interior cleaning, and we did some laundry. In the evening, we invited Tim and Annie over for some burgers on the grill. We enjoyed good conversation, watched the premier of Dancing with the Stars, and went to bed. Boy, did I sleep well the first two nights back in the States. We were exhausted.
On Tuesday morning, we finally felt back to normal. Since then, we’ve settled into being back in the States. Our time in the Bahamas consists now in a collection of wonderful memories. We’ll hopefully visit those beautiful islands again next winter on our way further south to the Caribbean. Our last few days in Titusville, has consisted in trying out some of the area restaurants (Valentino’s has the best pizza), doing some boat work (Tim and I spent several hours one day trying to figure out how and where to install our wifi booster/extender; Cindy and I spent several hours giving Beatitude a good bath), shopping, and relaxing. We also saw a movie in a movie theater for the first time in months. Kenneth Branagh’s Cinderella was wonderful. I also spent several hours yesterday doing taxes and other financial tasks. The bottom line on my taxes was not pleasant. I owe, a lot. That means less money to fix up the boat and more money for Uncle Sam. Oh, well!
We were visited by three manatees while cleaning the boat. They apparently are attracted to the water splashing onto the surface of the water. (This girl also apparently was doing a little bottom cleaning given the blue on her face. Or, maybe it’s just Manatee Make-up.
We only have a few more days here in Titusville before we have to leave Beatitude for 4 1/2 weeks for work and a trip out of the country. More on that later.
Glad you’re home safe n’ sound! It’s good that you have the where with all to pay the extra taxes you didn’t expect but sorry if it means less for cruising… Love, love , love the photos of the manatees! For being so “odd looking” they are soooo cute.
Again, glad you’re home. We’ve missed you and oh, we bought a “new to us” Consort, so come borrow it sometime… 🙂
Blessings,
Hope & Carson (SV CARSON G II)
Thanks, Guys! The manatees are so docile and lovable! We’d love to borrow your consort sometime! But… I’m not sure when or if we’ll make it back that way again. We sure enjoyed hanging out with you two while we were there, though!