Friday, November 27th (Day 60)
We were off the mooring at 7:40am for the 45(ish) mile run to Daytona on the ICW. It was a beautiful day on the water as we motored with no wind to help. One of the mansions on the shore had this huge blow-up Santa. He was as tall as the second floor!
It was a very nice day on the ICW and, as typical in this section from St. Augustine to Titusville, there was a lot of small boat traffic zooming around us.
At 3:40pm we anchored just south of the new Daytona Memorial Bridge near the eastern shore. I love this anchorage because it is in a no-wake Manatee zone so we don't get swamped by the big powerboats (usually....).
After securing the boat from our day of motoring, I dropped the dinghy and we motored to Caribbean Jacks restaurant about 1.5 miles away. We went for a short walk to stretch our legs a bit, then back to the restaurant for dinner. We ordered the alligator bites appetizer and split the Mahi-Mahi BLT sandwich. The fish, bacon and special sauce was just as we remembered it. Yumm.
For dessert we splurged on the Bananas Foster. We forgot how huge it was. Even splitting it we spent about half an hour munching it down. Here I am with the first bite. Sorry it's a little fuzzy. I was on my second glass of tequila....
After dinner we rolled ourselves back to the dinghy and slowly motored back to Second Wind.
Saturday, November 28th (Day 61)
We slept in a little today and pulled the anchor around 8am. It was a quiet morning as we motored through Daytona, around the Ponce Inlet and passed New Smyrna Beach. I had tried to get a slip at the City Marina here for the night but they were full up. We had spend 3 Decembers here so it would have been nice to see friends from the marina and local sights. Oh well...
Past New Smyrna the ICW opens up a bit on the Mosquito Lagoon. The winds helped a lot and we actually sailed with the engine off for a couple hours. It was nice and quiet. I took this picture of the sails up and peaceful waters.
We anchored in Titusville, just outside the mooring field, at 3:45pm. I had thought about getting a mooring and sitting here for 3-4 days because of a front coming through tomorrow night. But, it doesn't look that bad for this area so we will continue south another day tomorrow and plan on anchoring near one of the bridges for protection.
Sunday, November 29th (Day 62)
Anchor up at 8am for another nice day on the ICW. I really like this section we cover in the next few days. The Indian River runs from Titusville to the St. Lucie River. It is mostly 1-2 miles wide so you are not cruising down narrow channels.
The winds today helped a little but the water was very calm. I took this picture from behind us. Where does the water end and sky start?
It was a short day for us as we motored only 32 miles and anchored on the north side of the Eau Gallie Bridge at 1:30pm. The Coco Beach area of the river has been experiencing Red Tide which kills many of the fish. We saw many dead fish in the water and lots of gulls stuffing themselves.
We had anchored near the western shore on the north side of the bridge. This would protect us from the forecast 20-30 knot south and west winds coming in tonight and tomorrow. The winds are predicted to continue clocking to the north which will make this anchorage pretty rough. Sometime tomorrow we will move the boat to the other side of the bridge where we will have better protection from the northerlies.
Our anchorage was right next to a shore-side restaurant called Squid Lips (pretty funny, right?). Turns out they had free wi-fi which was great. We were able to stream shows all evening.
Monday, November 30th (Day 62)
The winds clocked during the night from the west and we waited for the rain. Our friends Dean and Sue on Autumn Bourne were sitting out this storm on a mooring in Carolina Beach. They had many inches of rain and winds up to 40 knots. By early morning the front came through our area but it was pretty broken. We only had about 1/4 inch of rain in spits and sputters. I thought, "Is that it?"
Just after lunch, we pulled our anchor and motored about 1.5 miles back to the ICW channel, under the bridge, then back to the western shore to anchor again. Now the bridge would protect us from the north winds tonight.
After anchoring, I looked to the north and saw all these Cormorants sitting on the power lines. It looked like a Cormorant Christmas Tree. Notice it's still pretty cloudy.
We spent a quiet day at our new anchorage. The wi-fi from Squid Lips didn't reach us over here so we relied on our AT&T unlimited data plan for TV.
Later in the evening, the winds picked up to over 20 knots from the NW. Where we were anchored would have had much bigger waves. As it was, we were getting a little swell from the waves coming under the bridge and turning around the corner. It rocked us to sleep.
Tuesday, December 1st (Day 63)
I hadn't decided if we would stay another night here or move farther south today. The winds were in the 20s during the morning but were supposed to calm down later in the day. We had a few very open spots between bridges but I didn't think the waves would move us around too much. We decided to continue our trip south and let the north winds help us along.
The morning was cold so we put up all of our canvas around our cockpit to warm up. Our jib was out to catch the north winds and it blocked the Sun from warming us up. The temps had gone down to the mid-40s last night and would only be low 60s today. With the clear canvas keeping out the winds, it wasn't too bad in the boat. I had to dig out my Winter gloves to warm up my hands after pulling the anchor this morning. That wind went right through me.
It was a fun day motor-sailing down the ICW at 6.5 - 7 knots all day with the wind helping us. We zoomed past Vero Beach and into Fort Pierce. I decided on the Fort Pierce City Marina for fuel and water. We were getting low on both since our last fill-up was Myrtle Beach 16 days ago.
Around 3:30pm we motored into the City Marina fuel dock. We were the only ones there so it was nice. I filled the fuel tank while Laura pumped out our holding tank (toilet tank). After she was done we started filling our water tank. The water pressure was a little low and we waited another 20 minutes after everything else was done to fill our water. We took 117 gallon of diesel and about 180 gallons of water. The boat sat lower in the water as we had added almost 3,000 pounds (even including the 25 gallons of toilet waste we took off).
While fueling, I noticed there was an empty dock on the t-head across from us. We had stayed there before so I asked if it was available for the night. They checked with the office and it was. I decided to stay for the night as the temps were going down into the 40s again and we would have full-time heat at the dock.
By 4:30pm we were tied up at the dock and relaxing ashore. Now this cracks me up. Laura and I had not been ashore for 4 days - since Caribbean Jacks. Did we go ashore for a walk or to check out the local area? Nope. Just stayed and enjoyed our home.
We did order take out from the local restaurant - Cobbs Landing. The marina had given us a 20% off coupon so, "why not?" Our legs did get stretched a little with the 10 minute walk to the restaurant then 10 minutes back. Laura ordered the snapper tacos and I had the fried snapper platter. Both snappers were excellent but my fries were cold and soggy. Bummer.
Wednesday, December 2nd (Day 64)
No rush this morning as we only had about 25 miles planned to Sunset Bay Marina in Stuart. We typically stay on a mooring there and wait for good off-shore weather to sail from Lake Worth to Key Biscayne. We can't take the ICW through Miami because of a low fixed bridge and try to avoid the 23 bridges between Lake Worth and Ft Lauderdale that have to open for us. Currently, there was a decent window for Sunday so we had about 3 days to kill
We were off the dock at 8:30am and had a little helping wind down this long section of the ICW between Ft. Pierce and the St. Lucie River.
The Stuart area is one of our favorites. The marina is nice (we could catch up on laundry) and the old-town district is fun for walks. There is also a Publix grocery and Ace Hardware nearby. In the same mall as Publix, there is a Japanese Buffet with one of the best Sushi Bars I've ever seen plus excellent Chinese food. I was hope they were open with COVID going on.
At 1:30pm we motored through the Roosevelt Bridge near the Sunset Bay Marina. Oh oh. As we motored over to the mooring field, I didn't see any open balls. Bummer. I called the marina on our VHF radio and they told me "no room at the inn". The moorings are "first come, first served" so you have to just go over and see.
Instead we motored 1 mile north across the river and anchored in the corner of the river with protection from the north and east winds forecast over the next day or so. Laura and I settled in and had a nice dinner on the boat. The sunset had some nice colors from our anchorage.
Thursday, December 3rd (Day 65)
We had a few jobs on our list for today that we had been putting off until we were not moving. Our decision was to start with trying to fix a poopie smell coming from our forward toilet holding tank. Every time the boat moved around like from a powerboat wake, we could smell the poopies in the cabin.
Laura and I pulled everything out of the forward cabin including the mattress on the bed. Then, I pulled up the boards over the holding tank. Phew! It was stinky in there. I saw that the overflow valve on the tank had come apart or wasn't working right. Contents of the tank had spilled over to the top of the tank and that's what smelled so much. Laura help clean everything up while I tried to figure out how to fix the valve. It was now basically a 1/2 inch piece of foam over an open hole in the top of the tank. I thought I remembered there was a plastic top over the foam but we couldn't find it.
I eventually decided to just seal off the overflow with gorilla tape. Duct tape wouldn't stick to the plastic tank but the gorilla tape did. After sealing the valve, I took apart the vent line to make sure it wasn't plugged. Nope. It was fine.
We then put everything back in the cabin and the boat smelled much better.
I called the marina on the phone and they said all the moorings were still full. I guess we'll just stay anchored here then for free.
A week ago we had repacked our propeller shaft. Every day while we've been moving I worked on getting the packing nut adjusted to where it just barely drips and the shaft bearings don't overheat. Usually, this is not a big deal. For some unknown reason, this time it was. I was having to check the packing gland every 1/2 hour for the past 3 days. When I adjusted it to only drip every 10 second or so (like it should), the next 1/2 hour check it would be hot which is not good.
What I decided was to put another strand of packing material under the nut. We had put 3 strands and I thought I remembered that was what I had used in the past. But, I think the shaft is wearing a bit and maybe it needs a little more help. So.... I took apart the packing nut while Laura greased up another strand of packing. This isn't a hard job but loosening the nut lets water pour into the bilge from outside the boat. It's not a calming effect to see water pouring into the boat and the bilge pumps running almost constantly to keep up.
But, we completed the job fairly quickly and had it all back together in about 10 minutes. I really hope it's easier to adjust now. I'm going to need to watch it closely again for the next couple days.
Around 1pm I dropped the dinghy and we motored to the city park to tie up and walk to Publix. The water was fairly calm with the east winds so I cranked up the new outboard and we zoomed. We have to go through the mooring field to get to the public dock in the city park. Motoring through the mooring field we saw an open mooring. What the...! Oh well. I wasn't going back for the big boat now.
We had packed and carried our luggage wheelie and collapsible crate for carrying groceries long distance. It was only about 3/4 mile to Publix but ya can't carry 10 grocery bags back from there in your arms. Once at Publix, the lady at the customer service desk let me store our wheelie and crate while we went to check out the Japanese Buffet.
It was open! Yea! I pigged out on great sushi and we both enjoyed the Chinese buffet. Here is a picture of the raw sushi bar. And it's only $10 each!
As we rolled ourselves back to Publix, neither of us wanted to think about grocery shopping and hauling it back to the dinghy, then back to the boat. But... we did it anyway. Not a big deal and we had everything stowed on the boat a couple hours later.
I just checked the weather and now it looks like Saturday might be good for the off-shore run to Key Biscayne. That means we have to leave here tomorrow for Lake Worth. I'm really happy we sucked it up and got everything done today. Florida Keys here we come!
We've traveled 1,396 nautical miles from Catskill. Tomorrow we will past ICW mile 1,000 from Norfolk. Water temp dropped the last few days from 75 to 68 degrees because of the cold nights. It will be warmer in The Keys...
No comments:
Post a Comment