Sunday In Titusville!

We woke early again and got underway. Out on the ICW the wind was still blowing 15 to 20 knots and over the open expanses of water there was a fetch creating waves around one foot. The sun was shinning and the air was warm.

When we came out of the anchorage there was another boat that looked familiar to us. Curiosity got the better of me and I hailed them on the VHF radio. They were who we thought they were. We met in Marathon at the United Methodist Church. We had a nice chat and found out we were both headed to Titusville. They were taking a slip and we were going to anchor.














Here in Central Florida we seem to be seeing many more cruisers traveling North . We have also observed more power boats anchoring than any other year. We guess they are opting, with the price of fuel, to spend their money at the pump and not at the dock.

We passed by this tug and barge just prior to getting to Titusville. He had a load of concrete pilings. Most of the marinas, when replacing pilings, seem to be going to concrete. It's sturdier than wood, especially during a hurricane.















This helicopter also passed by us on the way to Titusville. His banner on the side said sailboatpic.com. I don't think he took our picture though.


We arrived early in the afternoon at Titusville and after securing our anchor and having lunch we set out to go to shore. The winds were still strong and the chop was about one to two feet. Going to shore we were surfing off the following waves and I was not looking forward to the ride back.

While at shore,we spotted a boat we knew from Marathon last season. It was Ken and Lee on S/V One Eyed Parrots. They are staying a few days to have some work done. We chatted with them for a while then walked into town. Besides the fact that this town has very little in the way of shops and businesses, what was there was closed accept for the West Marine, Save A Lot and CVS. We walked down Main St and visited the open shops then returned to the boat. We managed to stay dry but the ride back was a bit bumpy. It reminded me of many of my rides back from Castaway's after work.

Early tomorrow we will be in New Smyrna Beach, where we will visit with my Aunt Dot.

Sleepless Night At Anchor!

The wind and tide did stop apposing each other but the wind continued to blow all night making for a noisy night and little in the way of rested sleep. We were awake early and decided to get under way, it wasn't going to get better if we stayed. I was tired and took a nap down below. Larry is afraid I'll get sick again like in NY so he encouraged me. It didn't take much convincing. I don't like to leave him up above alone. It gets monotonous by oneself with no one to talk to.

With the wind blowing like it was 15 to 20 knots, Rock Point lent little to no protection at anchor. Consequently we went on to another anchorage that was new to us. We dropped our hook at Dragon Point on the Banana River. We were among several power and sail boats. This is a very popular anchorage we found. The picture is of the swing bridge on the Banana River. It connects the small island you see on the left to the main spit of land on the right. The land on the right is connected to the mainland by a high rise bridge about a mile North. We will go under that bridge in the morning.

The picture is of a yacht club or marina on the large spit of land. It looks like a well kept club but they along with the marina South of it do not allow dinghy landing. We watched several dinghies land on a small strip of sandy beach between the two of them. I guess they figure if you want to come to shore take a dock.

If you look real close you can see one of they many dolphins that swam around us all evening. We were amazed at how many there were. It's always a pleasant feeling to see them. You just know it's going to be a good day or night when they come to greet you.

Tomorrow we plan a short days travel to Titusville, were we will anchor out by the marina. It's been close to a week since we set our feet on the ground so it's time to dinghy to shore and explore. We have been to Titusville several times but have never gone to shore.

A Short Day!

We were enjoying our anchorage this morning and didn't leave until 11 AM. I had some work to do on the computer so we took our time had breakfast, then lifted our anchor and set out. Today being Friday the water was a buzz with small fishing type boats and lots of wake. All in all it was a pleasant short trip to Fort Pierce, where we dropped our hook in an anchorage just South of the bridge by the city marina. We are one of about four boats that are here for the night. We enjoyed our late afternoon, sitting in the cockpit and taking a swim before our shower.

After dinner the wind picked up and the tide began to come up which caused a conflict for our boat. With an opposing wind and tide it can get noisy and bouncy and it has done both. Once the tide finishes filling things should calm down. I hope so, a good nights sleep would be good.

The picture is of a small sailing craft as he sailed by our boat at anchor. These small Cat boats seem to be popular here on the East coast of Florida. Looks like fun.

Tomorrow will be another short day. We plan to anchor at Rock Point which is between Titusville and Vero Beach.

OOPS!!!!

I guess I have you wondering what the last picture on the previous blog was all about. OK, I'll let you in on it. It was taken as we passed though Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale. It is a transport ship for yachts of all sizes across the Atlantic Ocean. My way to get across. I've shared with Larry many times when we are ready to cross I want to put us and our boat aboard one of those ships and cross. It would be much faster and easier than us taking about five weeks on our own. We would not lose any sleep either. Wow!

This morning we were both up early as usual, so we left in time for the 7:30 AM bridge opening. We were doing well getting to all the bridges on time until the afternoon, when they were getting further apart. We have transited though about thirty bridges the past two days. The only thing I can say for them is that they are easier than canals.

We were glad to call it a day around 5 PM when we dropped our hook in Hobe Sound for the night. The palatial pallace in the picture is part of our scenery on this portion of the ICW. It is much quieter and prettier than last night with it's high rise condominiums on all sides of the ICW. The water today was also much cleaner than yesterday. After the high winds and thunderstorms in Miami and Fort Lauderdale there was all kinds of debris floating in the water. It seemed trapped with the concrete walls on both sides.

Tomorrow we plan not to leave as early as today and not travel as far, we only have one bridge.

Saying Good Bye To The Keys!

Saturday April 18
We lifted our hook this morning and headed to Elliott Key. Over the VHF we heard our name. Our friend Mike on S/V Express Mail was hailing us. We were unable to connect up on the radio so I gave him a call on the cellular phone. I don't know what we did all those years without a cell phone. Mike and Carl, a friend of his was headed our way and we were headed his way. The picture is of his boat as we passed each other. We made a plan to meet up in a few days at No Name Harbor.

Larry and I arrived at Elliott Key in the afternoon and set our hook. The anchorage is large and it's a good thing, there were hundreds of boats enjoying the sun, fun and water. When the sun set some of them stayed but many of them took off for the shelter of their home docks and the umbilical cord ( electric hook up). They needed to recharge their batteries so they could keep the beer cold in the fridge and listen to the stereo full bast when they returned on Sunday.










Sunday April 19
We thought that there were a lot of boats on Saturday but that was nothing compared to Sunday . Larry and I enjoyed the day swimming and relaxing. Then we heard a kid crying for someone to retrieve his inflatable float the the wind had carried away. The boat that he was on was part of a three boat raft up and they had no dinghy. Larry and I watched and could not keep from hearing the kid continue to yelp so we put our dinghy motor on and came to the rescue. Any thing to get the kid to stop yelling. The adults we very thankful they didn't have to break up their raft.

Around sunset the boats started to leave, time to get back. I'm sure they had work on Monday. When the sun did set we were alone accept for a handful of boats. Peace and quiet at last. The sunset has one of the few boats left that shared the anchorage with us.







Monday April 20
We past by this very long barge on our way to No Name Harbor. There hasn't been much in the way of traffic on the water. We think we are late going back North.

We arrived at No Name Harbor early afternoon. Mike was already at anchor and Diane had returned from her trip to New Jersey. He and his guest Carl went to Ft. Lauderdale to pick her up at the airport.

Larry and I went to shore to do some laundry. It's so convenient here that we couldn't pass it up. We had a shower at the pavilion. It's a cold outdoor shower but it still felt good. When we finished we joined Mike and Diane and Carl for cocktails aboard Express Mail. It's good to meet up with them again.


Tuesday April 21

Diane and Mike had a rental car so Diane had made an appointment for their dog Skipper at the groomers. The appointment was for 10 AM and I tagged along. He would be there for 3 hours. Great time to go shopping an shopping we did. I think we hit every food store available in Miami. We were looking for bargains, we did find some. Seven hours later we returned to our boats and waiting husbands. We were both tired and hungry. After putting our provisions away, Larry and I went to shore for a shower. Then Diane , Mike and Carl came over for a cocktail before dinner. They wanted us to stay a few more days but we are anxious to get our mast taken care of. Our plan is to get an early start in the morning and go as far as Boca Roton.






Wednesday April 22

As usual when we travel we were up early but I don't think I was quite awake. The winds were high and small craft warnings were up on the ocean. Larry had made the decision that we would go on the inside following the ICW route. This would take away the temptation to set out the sails. Seldon the mast maker was not wanting us in heavy weather conditions and we weren't wanting to take a chance and have our mast unplanned down on our deck.

There are many, many bridges as you travel the ICW in Florida and most of them are on restriction, only opening on a schedule. One has to be very patient and calm because it can get very frustrating when the current is against your vessel and your boat speed is very slow. It is almost impossible to make the next bridge under these conditions. Patience is a virtue and very much needed.

Our first bridge is a fixed one just barely high enough for our mast. It's always tense to go under a low nonopening bridge but we did it. The next few bridges we were in swift current so waiting for your opening can be tricky.

Once we arrived in Fort Lauderdale, we fueled up and decided to go on to Lake Boca in Boca Roton to anchor for the night. Normally we would have stopped at Lake Sylvia and anchored for the night. The area in Fort Lauderdale and North of it is known as the Canyon, named this for a good reason. All the mega homes have built concrete walls to stop the erosion of what is left of a yard. The reason I say what is left is because they tend to take up most of their lot with an enormous house. It's hard to believe we are in a recession when you look at all the decadence here. Enough digressing I'll finish my thought. With these concrete walls any wake a boat makes reverbs off to get you again. I think the reverb is sometimes worse than the wake. In our Skipper Bob cruising guide they suggest not traveling though the Canyon on Holidays, weekends and late afternoons. That is another reason we deiced to leave No Name in the middle of the week.

We arrived at Lake Boca shortly after 5 PM and were glad to get off the ICW. There several boaters out after work attempting to catch the last of the sun, fun and water before sunset. I can't blame them it sure was a beautiful day. Larry and I took a swim then showered and enjoyed the view from our cockpit. We reluctantly went below for dinner just before sunset. When we rise in the morning we will do it all over again.

Slow Cruising!

This morning we lifted our hook around 11AM and headed to the ICW. We had taken our time when we got up and had a cooked breakfast of pancakes and sausage. We needed to send a fax and yesterday at the book store they wanted $3 per page and we had 5 double sided, no way. Seth, our mail service guy, delivered our mail and picked up our sheets to fax and it was a whole lot less expensive than the book store. After Larry dinghied to shore to meet him and returned we headed out.

The section of the ICW we were about to travel is lacking depth so it can be tricky. Another reason we waited until 11AM, was for a rising tide, it lifts all boats. We were doing fine until the last cut though skinny water and a fast moving power boat gave us a pretty good wake. With each of the troughs we ceremoniously hit bottom with a thud. Then it felt like we were dredging when the depth sounder read 0. It was good to get past the skinny water.

The winds blew 15 to 20 knots today and the air was a bit cool. We encounterd enough chop that we took spray over the bow and felt it back in the cockpit. The sun was bright though and made it feel warm.

We made it to Tarpon Basin at 3:30 and decided to call it quits for the day. We relaxed in the cockpit and enjoyed the peaceful surroundings and a swim in the water. The picture shows the sun just before it set and one of the two other boats sharing the anchorage with us. Tomorrow we should have a short day to Elliot Key.

Hanging Out In Islamorada!

We stayed put today. We decided since we haven't cruised in a while that we would take our time heading North. We stayed on the boat until afternoon, then went to shore to bump around.

In the morning we did some much needed accounting to check finances after our provisioning. That always tends to be a shock! Time to pull in the reins for a while.

We went to shore around 3:00 and went for a walk and checked out some of the shops. We also went to World Wide Sportsman to buy a new bilge pump switch. How exciting, but with our luck we have to keep a spare.

About 6:00 our friends you see in the picture, Tom and Karen, called to let us know they had arrived in Islamorada. They are spending a few days here with their three kids to do some site seeing. We went to shore and met up with Tom and Karen for dinner at Lorelei's. It was nice to visit with them. Karen we have seen several time since being in NY but it has been quite a while since we have seen Tom. Tom and Karen needed some adult time after an all day travel from NY with the kids, so just the two of them them joined us. We enjoyed a lite dinner and watched the sun set.

Tomorrow we plan to lift our hook and go to another anchorage. Were not sure where yet, that's the beauty of cruising slow!

On The Move Again!

As you can see from our last sunset in Boot Key Harbor for this season there are plenty of empty mooring balls. Most of our fellow cruisers that travel have already left for the trek North. tomorrow morning we will let loose our mooring lines and head North ourselves. Larry has cleaned the bottom of the mother ship and the two dinghies. I've provisioned for food and supplies and we are itchy to get under way once again. We plan to take our time heading North waiting for it to warm up a bit but we can't take too long we have to be in Charleston for a mast replacement but I'll break here and let Larry tell you all about it.

LCH When readying the boat for the trip north, I decided to check the rig tuning. I found that the mast had a compression at the base of the goose neck (where the boom attaches) at the mast. I first called Hunter to see if this had been reported by others. They gave me a name at Selden, the mast manufacturer. I explained to them what I found, sent pictures and within 48 hours they got back to me with a plan forward. I pay for a slip for a couple of nights, Selden will unstep the mast, move the standing rigging and wiring to a brand new mast and then step the new mast and retune at their cost. You will see the issue on the left. We expect to be in Charleston the first week of May for the work.

It never ends. I now have to watch the bilge. When we got to Islamorada last night, I checked it and we were full of water. The bilge pump switch failed. That is the third one to fail in 3 years. I had replaced it the first time at no cost under warranty. The 2nd time replaced at no cost due to there being a manufacture recall, just 9 months ago. This switch should still be under warranty. Luckily I had a spare switch which I installed last night. Don't like the water on the wrong side of the boat!

This morning we let loose of our mooring around 8:30 and headed to Poncho's Fuel dock for diesel. We then took a left out side of Boot Key Harbor and headed to the ocean. The winds were less than 5 knots and the swell was 2 to 4 feet with a few larger ones. It wasn't an issue until we turned to go West. When we made our turn the waves were on our starboard beam causing us to roll from side to side and with the lack of wind we had nothing to help level us out. The further we went the bigger they seemed to get. I was getting tired of chasing things around the cabin and the last straw was when the coffee pot half full hit the floor. Fortunately the grounds we contained in a filter. I don't know if it was my anger or lack of things to chase but the waves seemed to calm down after that point. If the waves hadn't been in the wrong direction for us it might have been very pleasant out there instead of sloppy and uncomfortable.

The picture is of the Channel Five Bridge where we entered the ICW and traveled to Islamorada to anchor off Lorelei's for the night and next day and night. When we dropped our hook the water was inviting and we went for a dip and a shower before dinner. We had a pleasant night along with several other boats motor and sail for the night.

Easter In North Fort Myers!

With most of our jobs accomplished and just a few remaining we decided it was time for a road trip to see Mom and Dad before we take off for the Chesapeake. We rented a car and because it was Easter weekend it was less money to rent for a full week than a weekend. We felt we could get our errands done quicker by car than by bike so we took it for the week. We drove to N.Fort Myers on Thursday had a wonderful visit with Mom and Dad and returned on Monday to Marathon.

While we were visiting, Mom and I went out to do a little shopping and Larry and Dad got in 18 holes of golf. The weather was hot and sunny. Larry and I went to the pool in the afternoons to catch some rays. The warm weather that we look for has finally arrived. This has been an exceptionally cold Winter here in Florida. Mom and Dad have even had it colder than we have in Marathon. I know the North has even been colder but we came here to escape the cold and it didn't work this Winter. I look forward to warmth next Winter

It was a good visit catching up on all the news with Mom and Dad. We hope to see them this Summer but if not we will when we return in December.

19 Years of Weded Bliss!

After returning from NY I became a little under the weather and didn't return to work. Larry had just a few small jobs more with SALT but they hadn't gotten there permits for any new jobs. We used the time to prepare for our return trip by boat to the Chesapeake. One of the major jobs was to resew all the exposed seams of our canvas enclosure and to replace the plastic of the windows in the dodger. With our new sewing machine it made the job much easier. It took two of us because the canvas was large sections and heavy. It took us about three days to complete the task. Some of it We did aboard the boat but the reglass needed more space so we went to the marina and used the table in the work shop. When it was finished and reinstalled it fit snug like when it was new and we can see out of the dodger. Yeah!

The boat in the picture was our neighbor for the Winter, Maggie M. Chris and Divya had left the same day we did for NY. They were headed for the Chesapeake also for the Summer. You can imagine our surprise and concern when we returned to see them at their mooring. They had left in heavy weather but nothing their boat couldn't handle under the right conditions. The chain that goes from the bow spit to the hull had broke and caused the spit to break and that caused the furler to bend and shred the head sail. Thank God they were alright. They limped the 10 miles back to Marathon because it was the best place to get repairs. If you look close at the guy up the mast in the picture you can tell it is Larry. He actually went up the mast on two occasions for Chris. Larry was glad to lend a helping hand to a fellow cruiser. That's the way it works in the sailing world.

Today was our 19th wedding anniversary and to celebrate we went to Castaway's for dinner and yes of course I had King Crab.