Change of plans (happens all the time...) - Days 8, 9 and 10

Tuesday, April 21st

78 degrees air temp, 78 degrees water temp.  Winds NW @ 10

36 nm today, 244 total from Marathon

We were up before sunrise and preparing the boat for a 60+ mile run to the Melbourne anchorage today.  It took a little longer than usual to pull the anchor as the chain was very muddy.  We have a seawater washdown with a hose that we use to clean the chain and anchor.  But, this stuff was like peanut butter and took longer than usual to rinse off.

By 0645 we were underway and motoring back to the ICW channel.  No problems in this direction as I just followed my GPS track from when we had come in.  This showed the one deeper spot that I had found - 6 feet.  We turned north and settled in for a day of motoring the ICW.

2 1/2 hours later we passed Ft. Pierce and had to wait 20 minutes for the North Bridge schedule (they open every 1/2 hour so we just missed it).  This is our only bridge today.  As we motored passed the bridge, the winds clocked a little to the east so I rolled out the jib and main to try and help us along.  That only lasted about 15 minutes until the wind veered back to the north and the sails were flapping.  Oh well...  I will always try to sail whenever possible.

A couple hours later we passed Vero Beach where our friends Dean and Sue were on a mooring.  They were supposed to join us but Dean got heavily involved in a few boat projects (it happens) so decided to sit a few days.  They will hopefully catch-up in a week or so.

Our plans were to anchor around Melbourne tonight then motor to Titusville tomorrow.  Titusville mooring field is very protected from the south winds predicted this weekend and we'd be able to go ashore to loosen up our legs.  I decided to call them and maybe try to reserve a mooring for tomorrow and the next few days.

The lady on the phone told me they did have moorings but they were first come, first served - no reservations.  She also added that they were "daily".  I asked if they meant we could only stay one night.  She replied, "No.  You can stay more than one night but can't come ashore."  Oh crap.  With the nasty weather predicted Friday, Saturday and Sunday, we had planned on staying there for 4-5 days.  It had been 8 days since we had been ashore.  Even though we don't mind extended stays on the boat, we would like to stretch our legs and maybe see other people once in a while.

I called back to Vero Beach City Marina and asked if they had a mooring available.  They did have "one" but it was also first come, first served.  I turned the boat around and motored the 4 miles back to Vero hoping no one else would get there before us.

Turns out we did make it and tied up at the fuel dock for a pump-out and registration.  They still had all our owner and boat information on the computer from the last time we were here - December 2006.  Nice!

We paid for 4 nights ($69 total) then moved the boat to the open mooring.  Laura did her normal excellent job of picking up the mooring line and tying lines to both sides of Second Wind.  Dean and Sue drove by to say, "hi!" and seemed happy we were there.  Dean also texted me a little later to say he was thinking of organizing a guitar jam at the dock and wanted to hear us play and sing again.  After talking, we decided to schedule this for tomorrow.  Laura and I were a little tired from being up early and didn't feel like dropping the dinghy, putting the motor on, etc.  So, after 8 days of not getting off the boat, we decided to wait for tomorrow.

Dinner was burgers on the grill and afterwards we watched a few shows off my iPhone connect to the TV.  AT&T recently sent us a notification that they were offering a new plan that increased the monthly gigs from 22 to 100 per device - these are both "unlimited" plans but can slow you down after reaching these limits.  The caveat was it included HBO but not AT&T Watch TV.  We almost never watched Watch TV so we signed up for it.  It will be interesting to see if we use all the data while traveling and watching TV each night off the phone.  I'll let you know.

Wednesday, April 22nd

68 degrees air temp, 76 degrees water temp. 

This was the first night in months that I pulled on the blanket and slept really well.   We have a clock in our cabin that displays the current time plus inside and outside temperature on the ceiling.  This was the first morning since January that it was below 75 in our cabin - it was 72 inside and 67 outside at 6am.  Even with the air-conditioning on in Marathon, the nights were so warm it barely got below 80 in the cabin (but it was much dryer, comfortable and noisier).

We decided to go ashore today!  Later in the morning we dropped dinghy, lowered the outboard onto the transom, got all our stuff together and motored toward the marina .  On the way, we stopped and talked to Dean and Sue on their boat.  Then we motored to the dinghy dock and touched land for the first time in 8 days.  It was nice.  We walked down the road a bit without a real destination then decided to see if the beach was open. After a mile walk, it turned out there were signs the public access to the beach was closed but a nearby restaurant had steps leading down to the sand.  There were 100s of people on the beach but nobody close - everyone was social distancing nicely.  Laura got in a little walk for her "beach fix".

There is a highway over the water just behind our boat so, on our way back to the marina, I walked up and took this picture.  (No.  We didn't buy a drone...) This is the Vero Beach City Marina mooring field.  Second Wind is the first boat in the lower right.

Dean had scheduled a 3pm play-along at the marina picnic tables.  We arrived around 3:15pm and were the first people there.  This worked out OK as I watched the 3:30pm SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral on my iPad and a little in-person.  I had hoped to be at Titusville for this launch but we didn't make it.  From 70 miles away, we did see the light from the engines going up into the sky but the higher clouds hid the rest of the accent. Bummer.

Dean played guitar, I played guitar and Uke, Sassy also played the Uke.  A few other boaters came over and we had some fun for a couple hours singing along.  As you can see, we were social-distancing here too.

We had BBQ pork chops off the grill for dinner and ate in cockpit for the 3rd time in several months.  I love eating dinner in the cockpit.  It's like a picnic with just the two of us in the fresh air.  Plus, as usual, we played some nice dinner music on the stereo (Howard Livingston) then sat and talked for quite awhile after eating.  When we eat in the salon, I turn on the TV and watch a few shows instead of talking.  It was just a perfect day weatherwise.  Light north winds which were just a little cool for walking and hanging out.  Just enough wind to keep the mosquitoes and no-seeums away.

Oh.  There is a boat parked next to us that reminded me of my late cousin Don.  During our get-togethers in Marathon, he would always call Islamarada "Esmerelda".  Thinking of you Don!



Tomorrow will be warmer with high south winds.  Then Friday, Saturday and Sunday are predicted to be unsettled weather with showers and thunderstorms.  This is why we are here so we'll sit out the next few days with plans on leaving Monday to head north again. 

In the meantime, Laura has been making out a grocery list on-line for Insta-cart at Publix to be delivered on Saturday.  Prices are a little higher than in the store but it's perfect for folks without a car (like us).  Dean had an Insta-cart grocery delivery today and they brought it right to the dinghy dock.  Awesome!

Thursday, April 23rd

74 degrees air temp, 76 degrees water temp

It was warmer last night so no blanket for me.  We do sleep with a small fan blowing cool air on us which makes things much more comfortable.

Just so you don't think everything on a boat is fun and games....

Over the past year or so, our boat engine has been running a little hotter than normal on the gauge.  I keep a close eye on it and have even checked our engine temp with a thermometer gun (yes, about 10 degrees hotter than normal).  I've changed the raw water impeller last fall which didn't make any difference and checked the sea strainer and lines to the engine.  My next troubleshooting spot was the thermostat which I thought might not be opening all the way and limiting the cooling water through the engine.

I called and found that Trans Atlantic Diesel in Virginia (a good place for Perkins engine parts) had them in stock so I ordered two thermostats and two gaskets yesterday with overnight shipping.  They arrived this morning and I took the dinghy into the marina office and picked them up.

Back at the boat, I siphoned about a gallon of antifreeze mixture from the engine and only got a small amount in my mouth.  Euuuuu!  That stuff tastes awful. Then I concentrated on the two bolts holding the thermostat housing.  One bolt was easy to get at so I started there.  Box-end wrench wouldn't loosen it so I tried a socket with ratchet then a 1 foot breaker-bar.  Couldn't move it.  I sprayed on BP Blaster (good solvent for loosening bolts) and waited a bit.  Still wouldn't move. 

Two hours later and I still can't get the bolts off.  I'm giving up for today and putting everything back together.  At least this is not critical - we can still move the boat at close to our normal cruising speed.  Plus, the engine temp has seemed to get a little better since we motored out of The Keys.  There has been about a 10 degree drop in seawater temperature to here and it will only get cooler (better?), right?

Laura is making English-muffins from scratch and they are rising right now.  Dean organized another sing-along at the marina (I think Thursday is their normal day) and we can't decide if we are going in to play / sing.  Seems like I would be playing all the same songs from yesterday.  What fun is that?

I guess that's all for today.  I'll post this and start another episode tomorrow during the predicted storms.  At least we are on a mooring now in a very protected cove.  Should be fun!