Lake Worth to Marathon (Finally!)

December 27th (Day 81) - Lake Worth to Indian Key

 72 degrees.  Water temp 74.  Winds 5-8 from the west.  Sunny, beautiful day on the ocean.

130 Nautical miles today (1,564.5 total trip miles)

Last evening I completed all the off-shore preparation out on the decks and we were ready to go.  I had set the alarm for 6am so we could have a chance of making Biscayne Bay before dark.  No problems pulling the anchor at 6:30am in the dark and we soon motored the 1/2 mile back to the inlet.

But first...  just before the inlet - in the big ship turning basin - I turned up into the wind and we rolled out the full mainsail.  The winds were only 5-6 knots but they were supposed to be higher later in the morning.  After the sail was out, we turned back to the inlet and motored against the incoming tidal current for the short 1 mile into the North Atlantic.

As we were nearing our turn south from the inlet, we could see a huge cruiseship a couple miles away making their approach.  I was very happy we were not 15-20 minutes later or we would have had to wait for them to enter.  

Once away from shore, we could turn south with our destination finally the Florida Keys!  It was a beautiful morning with a pretty sunrise as the Sun lit up the low clouds from underneath.

As the morning progressed, we rolled out the jib and raised the mizzen to help with boat speed.  Unfortunately, the winds never filled in for us to sail fast enough to make it passed the Miami ship channel (Government Cut) before dark so we kept the engine running all day.

Later in the morning Laura decided to put a hand-line out and troll a lure for fresh fish.  After about 30 minutes, she pulled it in and changed the lure.  Not 2 minutes after putting the line back out she had a hard bite that pulled the line tight.  I pulled the throttle back and turned the boat into the wind to slow down.  Just a few minutes later we had a nice size tuna on the deck.

This is called a "Little Tuna" and not as good eating as a bluefin or yellowfin.  But Laura decided to filet it anyway and a short time later we had 4 nice tuna filets in the refrigerator.  Note that we grilled it for dinner a couple nights later and it was very nice.

After the fishing excitement, it was time to relax in the warm Sun.

It was a nice day on the very busy south Florida coast.  Passing each inlet, pleasure boats were everywhere.  We averaged 7 knots for the 40 miles to Ft. Lauderdale and another 20 miles to Miami.  

Now we had a decision to make.  The weather forecast had changed for the worse with a front coming through tomorrow afternoon with thunderstorms and winds in the 30s with gusts to 40.  All three of the weather apps I use agreed that the high winds and rain would be after 1pm.  We had a few options...

1. At this speed, we could be anchored in Hurricane Harbor, Key Biscayne before dark.  It is a tricky entrance (VERY narrow channel) but we've been in there before and have tracks on our GPS that we could follow.  This harbor has 360 degree protection with excellent holding and would be one of the better spots to ride out the storm tomorrow.  The only problem is this would set us back 2 days in getting to Marathon.  Tomorrow we would sit out the storm then it would take another 2 days down The Keys.  We had made plans for the next few days and wanted to be there sooner than that.

2. We could enter Biscayne Bay just south of Key Biscayne and motor-sail down the bay to Key Largo.  We could be anchored behind Pumpkin Key around 10-11pm where we would sit out the storm tomorrow.  This is not as protected as Hurricane Harbor but we could probably make Marathon in one day from there.

3. Keep going tonight and anchor along the north shore before the Channel 5 bridge.  Current ETA was 3am.  From there, we could grab a couple hours sleep and leave early to make Marathon in only 4-5 hours before the storm.  

4. Keep going down the Hawk Channel tonight all the way to Marathon.  We would be in Marathon around sunup tomorrow.  The major problem with this is all the crap trap floats past Channel 5.  We'd be taking a bigger chance of running over one and pulling it into the propeller.  I've advised folks in the past to not run between Key Largo and Marathon in the dark because of the numerous floating trap markers.

Laura and I discussed the options and, after over 2 months of travel to get here, decided on #3.  In hindsight, we ignored the advise I give other boaters, "Don't let momentum make travel decisions for you."  We both wanted to be in Marathon tomorrow so decided to keep going.

The problem with this scenario is I would also be going against my normal planning strategy to always leave yourself a way out if things go bad.  There would not be any good places to bail-out into a protected anchorage if the weather came in earlier.  But, I figured with the forecast north winds off the land, it wouldn't be too bad.  Hmmm......

Around 5pm we had negotiated our way through the busy Miami ship channel and kept going.  A short time later we passed the Key Biscayne lighthouse where we could have turned for the Hurricane Harbor and Key Largo anchorages.  Onward!

We had another pretty sunset over Biscayne Bay at 5:30pm.

The almost full moon came out shortly after sunset and lit up our night travels down The Keys.  There were a few other boats we passed in both directions but no problems.  Laura and I were both able to get naps so I wasn't too tired.  Winds had died so we pulled in all the sails and just motored on calm waters.  

Once again, the forecast kept saying the storms and winds were not until the afternoon tomorrow.  I didn't want to keep going all the way to Marathon tonight because of the numerous crab trap floats.  I knew from multiple past passages through here that they were very thick once we got to Channel 5.  I didn't want to take the (small) chance that we would catch one with our propeller and disable the boat in the dark.

We caught a little helping current and were able to easily anchor off Indian Key at 2:30am.  Now we had only 25 miles to Marathon that we planned to make easily tomorrow morning.  We both hit the sack just a few minutes after anchoring with the alarm set for 3 1/2 hours later.

December 28th (Day 82) - Marathon!

75 degrees, water temp 74.  Crazy weather......

31 Nautical Miles today (1,595.5 total trip miles)

The alarm went off at 6am and we had both slept well - but not nearly long enough.  After only a couple minutes being awake, I knew that something wasn't right.  The forecast had called for light winds all morning until the storms in early afternoon.  I could hear and feel the winds before even getting out of bed.  Oh oh.

We both quickly got the boat ready to cruise and by 6:30am we had pulled the anchor and started motoring toward Marathon.  Winds were 15-20 from the NE which brought 2-3 foot waves off the starboard stern - rolling the boat a bit but not too bad.

Dawn broke just before we crossed Channel 5 and it was nice to be able to see the numerous crab trap floats.  We were able to safely pass through them all with occasional detours to one side or the other so we'd miss one right in our path.

I took this picture at 8am.  The storm was coming early.  Maybe it would miss us to the south?

Nope.  We could see a large line of thunderstorms and rain heading our way on the phone weather app.  Lots of yellow and red shit.  20 minutes later, the storm hit.  Check out this short video I took.

Did you notice in the video above how the boat was leaning over a lot?  This wasn't the wind pushing our sails - we didn't have any sails out.  It was just the wind pushing on our (2) masts.  

Once we were behind Duck Key we were not getting blown over so bad with the 30+ knot wind gusts.  The only problem now was staying here until the front passed (maybe an hour?).  I ended up finding a way to "heave to" so the boat didn't move around too much.  We had no sail out (I thought it would make the wind effect worse) but I was able to point the bow into the wind then let it fall off the wind just 10 degrees.  Now the wind wanted to move the bow to the side.  I turned the helm all the way over to push the bow back into the wind and lowered the throttle on the engine.  This worked pretty good.  I was pleasantly surprised.  The boat was balanced with the wind trying to push us away and the rudder / engine trying to push us back.  We just drifted sideways at about 0.5 knots.  Perfect!

The green squiggle line was our track for the next hour staying behind the island for some wave and wind protection.  It wasn't fun.  The wind was blowing mid-30s to 40 most of the time with heavy (sideways) rain.

An hour later we could see on the radar that the major storms had passed.  The wind was still holding mid-20s but that wasn't so bad so we again turned west and headed to Marathon.

The next few hours were not too bad because the wind was mostly off the land and we were not getting big waves.  The wind sometimes dropped into the teens but most of the time it was 25+.  

As we made the turn around Boot Key toward the 7-mile bridge, we were motoring directly into the wind and making only 2-3 knots.  I was wondering if we should even go into the harbor because the high winds could blow us out of the channel on our way in.  

To make matters worse, the marina was not answering the phone.  We've seen times in the past when they close the marina office and go home if the weather is so bad they will not get any business.  Guess that happened today.

Instead, I was able to get a hold of our friend Sal who has a boat right next to us at the marina.  He was there and could help us dock.  I didn't think we could get into our slip because the winds would blow us sideways away from the dock.  So, my plan was to tie up to the wall behind the marina where we would be pointing north into the wind.  Only problem is the cleats back there are not great.

We came into the Boot Key Harbor channel and I was able to stay over to the north side (deeper water) while carefully watching that the wind didn't blow us into the shallow water.  Just because your boat is pointing in a direction doesn't mean it's actually going that way.  Boats move sideways almost as easy as moving forward.

Laura did her normal excellent job of preparing our dock lines on the way into the harbor.  At the last minute, I noticed that the wind had died just a little so decided to change plans and pull right over to the fuel dock next to Sal's boat.  It worked great and we had the boat secured just a few minutes later.  I was one happy man.  When the winds die tomorrow, I'll gladly move to our normal slip #2.

I think today was our most intense travel day in 17 years and over 150,000 miles of our time on Second Wind.  We've been in 30+ knot winds before and even sailed through 25-30 knot winds in the Caribbean.  But today seemed worse because of the narrow channel and major rain event.  Luckily(?), there were not any thunderstorms that could have made it much worse.  I'll definitely remember this the next time we have these decisions to make.  What's another 2 days?

Russ and Pam had been in Marathon for a week or so and walked over to our marina for dinner together at the restaurant.  We had a great reunion and wonderful dinner watching our first Keys sunset.  It didn't disappoint!

Here we are tied on the fuel dock.

This picture was from the restaurant a little while later.

We will be spending the Winter in Marathon and enjoying time with old and new friends.  This was the longest trip up or down the coast for us in 17 years because of a few lengthy stops we made for personal business.  But, we've arrived at Burdines 3 weeks earlier than last year when we were delayed by Laura's ankle surgery.  We are very happy to be at the dock and settled in.

Onward.....

Sal and Ina (our dock neighbors and music friends) have a car here that they've offered for us to use so we won't feel so "stranded". 

I'm looking forward to getting back to daily walks to build up my strength and stamina again.  The past few weeks (since Myrtle Beach) we haven't had the opportunity to walk very much and I feel a little stagnated (is that even a word?).

On Saturday evening, Russ and Pam invited us to their boat for dinner and sunset.  They are on the "Sunset" docks at Marathon Marina and have a beautiful view.  Here are a couple pictures from a fun evening with them.

I will blog again if something interesting happens that is "blog worthy."  Otherwise, the next blog will be in April when we leave for another summer in Catskill. 

We have a fun New Year's Eve party planned at the tiki-hut in front of our boat.  Sal, Ina, Russ, Pam plus Jon and Marguerite (another couple from Summer in Catskill) will be here for some music, great food and excellent company. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO FAMILY AND FRIENDS!  Hope it's a good one for you!

Trip Stats

Anchored          26 nights
Moorings            6 nights
Paid dockage   40 nights
Free docks         9 nights

 

Major Trip Expenses (for 2 1/2 months)

Diesel        $1,281
Dockage    $1,960
Repairs      $2,658 (includes new A/C unit)
Dining        $1,021
Groceries   $2,161

 

Stuart, FL to Lake Worth, FL

Friday, December 22nd (Day 76) - Stuart

67 degrees.  Water temp 67 (why isn't it warmer now?).  Winds N to NE 5-10.  Cloudy with occasional rain

Didn't move the boat today.

Since we were going to be on the boat for Christmas, we decided to take the dinghy into town for some Christmas dinner shopping.  We had a turkey loin in the freezer but it wouldn't allow for the great Turkey Dinner leftovers.  Let's get a whole bird!

We relaxed in the morning catching up on emails and current events.  There is a great Chinese / Japanese Buffet in the Publix mall that has the best sushi.  Did I say it was a buffet!  

In the early afternoon I dropped the dinghy and got it ready for the 1 mile run to the Shepard Park in Stuart.  There is a great place to tie up the dinghy in Frazier Creek near US 1 - less than 1/2 mile from Publix and the buffet.

We brought our wheelie cart and folding crate because our grocery list was a little long and included a small (10 pound?) turkey that would fit in our boat oven.  It would make carrying all that back to the dinghy much easier.

No problems as we carried the wheelie and crate down US1 to the mall.  Geez.  Cars were zooming right by us and everybody seemed to be in a hurry.  We had to be very careful crossing the couple intersections because nobody was slowing down.  

There were several closed shops in the mall.  I was hoping the buffet was still open.  It was!  I settled in for my sushi feast.

I was very proud that I didn't overeat (too much...).  A short time later we walked over to Publix and found everything we needed at the somewhat smaller store.  Then back to the dinghy down US1 where I was almost hit by TWO cars.  One guy was taking a right on red and not looking my way (was on his cell I think).  I was 1/2 way passed the front of his truck when he started going.  "STOP!".  He apologized.  We walked on to the next intersection where a large pick-up almost ran us over in the cross-walk.  Instead of slowing down for us in the cross-walk, he accelerated past us.  I really want to get back to our calm boat!

Laura and I had planned on going into the nearby Harbor Inn restaurant for dinner but we were both a little tired from the walk and grocery shopping.  Good thing we didn't go since it rained for several hours in the late afternoon and most of the night.  We would have had a wet dinghy ride.

Interesting sunset tonight through a little hole in the clouds.

Instead of heading out to dinner, we watched a few shows streamed with our Starlink Internet.  One of our favorites is the new season of "Car Masters: Rust to Riches" on Netflix. The techs / mechanics are so talented it's hard to believe some of the cars they produce.  Plus, there isn't a lot of arguing or drama like many other shows.  Hard work = great product.  Something you don't see that often anymore.

I screwed up a bit trying to find a new spot to keep the dinghy without pulling it back up on the davits.  Since we would be using it over the next several days, I tied it up on the starboard side of the boat with a bow and stern line (always have to eliminate single-point-of-failure).  It was fine until we went to bed and rain storms came through.  The dingy was bouncing around right next to the open window near our heads.  I REALLY didn't want to get up and move it because it rained almost all night.  Finally I closed the window which cut down 90% of the noise.  Lesson learned....

Saturday, December 23rd (Day 77) - Stuart

67 degrees, warming into the 70s.  Water temp 68.  Cloudy but clearing.  Winds NE at 10-13.

Didn't move the boat today.

Yesterday we had minimal power from our solar panels and wind generator (cloudy / not much wind) so I had to run the Honda generator all evening for hot water showers and to charge our batteries.  Today was much better as the Sun came out late morning and skies cleared.

Another affect from leaving the dinghy in the water was pumping out the 3" of water in it from the heavy rains last night.  I moved the dinghy to the back of the boat, tied it to the swim-deck and climbed in.  160 pumps later with the hand-pump and it was empty.  If I had pulled it up on the davits yesterday, I would have pulled the drain-plug and the rain would have run right out. 

After cleaning up the dink, I decided to again run over and check the mooring field for any openings (I've been checking every morning).  I wasn't too optimistic since we had stopped at the marina office on the way back from groceries yesterday and, when Laura went in and asked if anyone was leaving soon, was told, "Nobody has moved in months."  My assumption is their monthly fee is so low ($450) that boaters use the moorings as "In Water Storage".  Very few of the 67 boats on moorings seem to have folks living on them.  Oh well...  We will save the $45 / day mooring fee by being anchored just a mile away.  We just can't use the marina facilities but shouldn't need laundry and we have an excellent shower on the boat.

Another nice thing about being on the anchor all by ourselves is we can run the Honda generator whenever and as loud as we want.  Nobody around to bother....

By the way, this is my forth day in a row in shorts.  Also haven't had to run the heat in almost a week.  We're in the warm!

Laura is in full baking mode - her happy place.  Linzer Stars with homemade cherry preserves.  Yumm.

Oh oh.  I might be in trouble.  We're not in a marina to give away most of the baking.  Who's gonna eat all these?  Freezer I hope.

It was another warm day with temps in the low 70s.  I worked a few boat projects in shorts and t-shirt.  Around 4:30pm Laura asked what I wanted for dinner.  I mentioned going into the Harbor Inn so no cooking.  She immediately agreed and we both showered, put on clean clothes and headed in.

Hmmm.  Not much action as we motored up to the Harbor Inn.  It looked deserted.  We asked a neighbor by the beach if the restaurant was still open.  He told us they had closed during COVID.  Bummer.

Instead we dinghy'd over to Sunset Bay Marina to try and dock by the Sailor's Return restaurant.  There is a free courtesy dock right in front of the restaurant.

As we slowly motored around the huge marina and BIG boats, it was beginning to look like we couldn't "get there from here." Finally on our third try we found the right route and docked the dinghy.  A few minutes later we found the walkway around the harbor and under US 1 to Hudson's.  We'd been here 4 years ago and really liked the outdoor "sand beach" seating.  Oh oh.  Things here have changed a lot.  There was a whole new building and the beach seating was gone.  Instead we settled for the tiki-hut bar out by the water.  It was a fun and interesting evening with a nice two-guitar band playing right next to us. 

We had a great view.

We ordered our dinners and cocktails.  When the food showed up the chowder was barely warm (but very good) and my french fries were cold.  Bummer.  My Mahi sandwich was excellent.  A few minutes later our young waitress (Gabby) came by and asked how everything was.  I said, "It's OK...".  Now here is something a waitress never said to me.  "Only OK?  What can I do to make it better?"  I asked for hot french fries and had them 5 minutes later.  Wow! 

What was even more impressive was the tip was automatically added into the bill (I hate that).  Usually, this means the staff doesn't have a lot of motivation for better service.

After dinner we sat and listened to the music for a while then headed back to the dinghy.  I dug out our navigation lights and was pleasantly surprised they still worked after a bunch of water poured out of the container.  It was a pleasant ride in the dark back to the boat.  Still lots of boat traffic that I worked hard to stay away from.

After hauling the dinghy up on the davits, Laura took a picture of this nearby house that was really decorated for Christmas.

It was a very nice evening ashore.

Hmmm.  Now the weather is looking a little tricky for getting down the coast next week.  The 2-3 day nice off-shore forecast is now only Wednesday.  The showers and thunderstorms forecast for Tuesday have moved earlier into Monday (Christmas) afternoon.  We may need to re-anchor as the winds will clock to the south which is pretty wide open where we are and may make for a rough ride sitting here.  You know I'll keep a close watch on the updated forecast.

Sunday, December 24th (Day 78) - Start of week 12

68 degrees.  Water temp 68.  Rain last night and cloudy today.

We move the boat about 500 feet

Can you tell when I get bored I spend more time on blog details?  Today is day 4 at our Stuart anchorage and I've run out of boat jobs.  This morning I cleaned up the dinghy navigation lights and put them back in the boat.  I also cut off the old (mostly broken) cable ties from the HAM radio antenna and put on all new ties (we haven't used the HF radio in over 5 years so this wasn't a priority..).  Then I fixed a burner on our propane stove.  It wasn't working very well and just needed a good cleaning

Laura started preparing for our big Christmas dinner tomorrow while I slept in a bit.  I told her to let me know if there was anything I could help with and she was grateful but I think she enjoys doing the stuff herself.  Kinda like me working on boat projects.

After checking the weather forecast again, I could see that the storms scheduled for Tuesday were now coming tonight and tomorrow.  Oh boy.  Christmas on anchor in thunderstorms.  On the bright side, we would have better travel weather on Tuesday for getting to Lake Worth and staging for the off-shore run down to Miami on Wednesday.

Winds will be out of the east tonight (like the past 3 days) so this anchorage is good for that.  Tomorrow, the winds will clock southeast to south-southeast and increase to 20-30.  It would be better if we moved closer to the eastern shore for better protection from that.

Here is a screeshot from our chartplotter.  Near the upper right you see a little boat icon next to the green anchor.  That's where we moved to.  The red X to the left of that was where we were.  Not a big move.  About 500 feet.

While we moved, I decided to motor down to the mooring field to check if anyone had left.  There was a mooring open!  I called the marina on the marine radio and they told me that open mooring was only for boats up to 37 feet.  Bummer.  Instead we motored back and re-anchored closer to shore.  The hour or so running the engine helped charge the batteries (on a cloudy day - no solar) and heat up the hot water heater.  Success!

Christmas 2023 (Day 79) - Stuart

72 degrees.  Water temp 70.  Storms last night with high winds.  SE winds clocking S later in the day.

Moved the boat .7 miles to a better anchorage for SE to S winds.

I didn't sleep well last night as several squalls came through with high winds and rain.  We didn't move around much as the wind was from the east - right off the shore next to us.  The morning calmed a bit but very cloudy with more storms in the forecast this afternoon.

The forecast had changed a bit with winds more south later in the day.  This anchorage was open about 1 1/2 miles to the south so that might bring us big waves.  Instead, at 10am we moved the boat (again).

Another chartplotter screenshot showing our track (red line from right to left) to the new anchorage.  Notice how where we were in the upper right corner was open to the south.

It was a quiet day on anchor as Laura prepared then cooked a 10 pound turkey and all the fixin's.  The turkey was cooking while we moved to the new anchorage.

A few hours later we sat down to a wonderful Christmas dinner in the cockpit.

It rained a little on-and-off during the day but the big south winds never showed up.  On the radar, it looked like the nasty stuff went south of us.  We both spent time Face-time and texting family during the afternoon and evening.

In the later afternoon I was playing my flute in the cockpit and decided to try recording a few songs.  Geez.  I was cracking under the pressure.  How come when you are just playing a song, it is perfect but when the camera is running it's a whole new ballgame?  After several tries I eventually recorded two Christmas songs what were not too bad.  Click on the YouTube videos below to check them out if you like.  

We streamed Polar Express (one of our favorite Christmas movies) and hit the sack early.  On the move tomorrow.  Yea!

December 26th (Day 80) - Stuart to Lake Worth

72 degrees.  Water temp 74.  Light rain showers then clearing later in the afternoon.  Winds W at 10.

36 nautical miles today (1,434.5 total trip miles)

We both slept well (probably all that tryptophan from the turkey) and were up quickly with the 6:30am alarm.  It was still dark out but that would change quickly.

Last night in bed I remembered that we hadn't taken the outboard off the dinghy.  This is part of our normal preparations for off-shore.  Don't want that extra 100 pounds swinging around on the davits.  So, I set the alarm for 1/2 hour earlier to give us time for that in the morning.

After stretching and exercise in bed, I completed all the engine checks then we both went out on the back deck to lower the dink, raise the outboard onto the deck rail mount, then bring the dinghy back up on the davits.  It was a very light rain and I don't think we even got wet.

Anchor up at 7:30am then we motored 20 minutes to the Old Roosevelt Bridge.  This is a weird bridge.  When you look at the bridge schedule, they are closed for morning and afternoon rush-hour plus only supposed to open on the hour and 1/2 hour.  But there is a little note on the schedule that "The bridge tender will open at any time on request." 

Yep. We got there at 7:50am and only had a short wait for another sailboat to catch up.  This was the first of 8 bridges that have to open for us today between Stuart and Lake Worth.  One down!

No problem with the Hobe Sound Bridge and only a short wait at the Jupiter 707 Bridge.  I was hanging back about 1/4 mile from the bridge waiting for them to open because there was a sailboat in front of us that was kinda wandering around and lots of current pushing us toward the bridge - sometimes a dangerous situation.  Finally the bridge tender got on the radio and said he was waiting for Second Wind.  No problem.  Here we come!

Around the corner crews were working on the new Jupiter US1 bridge.  Just a little channel for us on the left side of the picture.

We had a 10 minute wait for the Indiantown Bridge (only opens on the hour and 1/2 hour).  Our Skipper Bob is wrong here which I knew from previous passages through this area.  Skipper Bob says only 3.2 statute miles to the next Donald Ross bridge.  It's actually about 1/2 mile farther than that.  We should be able to easily make 3.2 statute miles in 1/2 hour at 6 knots but we never can.  My GPS showed 3.3 nautical miles to the bridge.  

We had some helping current so I decided to let Gertrude (our Perkins diesel) loose and added another 100 RPM over the usual 2,100.  Guess what?  We made it!

On the way to the Donald Ross Bridge, I spotted this house being built along the waterway.  It was going to be beautiful with white walls and all those windows.

We had a rain shower go through a little while later.

No problem with the remaining 3 bridges and we approached the Lake Worth inlet anchorage around 2pm.  Boy.  This place hasn't changed.  Still derelict, moored and anchored boats all over the place.  After searching around for 1/2 hour, we finally anchored near the channel for a quick getaway tomorrow morning - probably in the dark.

While we were anchoring, this little boat went by.

Ok.  Now we are perfectly staged for a long off-shore run tomorrow down to The Keys.  Weather forecast is excellent for some morning sailing (west winds 10-15) then probably motoring on a calm ocean in the afternoon and evening.

It is 60 nautical miles from here to Miami but we'll probably keep going another 40 miles and anchor off Key Largo in the dark around midnight.  This will set us up nicely for the last 45 miles to Marathon on Thursday.  Some kinda weather front coming through on Thursday morning but the big winds should be out of the north so off the land.  We'll just put out a "handkerchief" of a sail and let the 25-30 knot winds push us home.

Next blog should be from Marathon!

Palm Coast to Stuart

Tuesday, December 12th (Day 66) to Sunday, December 17th (Day 71) - Palm Coast Marina

We spent this week at Palm Coast Marina because we had to leave the boat a few days for personal business.  Tuesday morning we rented a car and drove north returning late Friday night.  Our original plans were to bring the rental back Saturday morning then leave with the boat for a short ride to Daytona Saturday afternoon.  Don't forget, we're trying to get to Marathon for Christmas with our friends at Burdines plus Pam and Russ who are a little ahead of us now.

Unfortunately, the weather was not nice for the entire weekend so we stayed an extra 2 nights and kept the car.  Interesting that the car was only another $22 for the 2 extra days because we hit the weekly rate.  That was pretty nice.  Plus, now we could relax a bit on Saturday and take our time with some shopping and groceries.  Too bad the marina didn't have a weekly rate which is usually much less than the $80 a day we paid for the 7 days.

Here is a graph of the winds from Saturday afternoon to Sunday afternoon.  The peaks are just over 40 knots.  We were getting blown around pretty good.

Sunday afternoon I brought the car back to Enterprise and used the key-drop.  After taking an Uber back to the boat, we were pretty much ready to go.  That evening we had a colorful sunset after all the storms went through.

I had filled up our water tank and removed all the extra storm lines from the boat.  We were ready to go!

Monday, December 18th (Day 72) - Palm Coast to Titusville

58 degrees.  Water temp 65.  West winds 8-12.  Clear and sunny

67 nautical miles today (1,293.5 total trip miles)

I had the alarm set for 6:15am and we were up right away getting the boat ready to leave.  It was chilly and we both had sweat pants and sweatshirts on.  What's up with that?  Isn't it supposed to be warm now?

It took us longer than usual to get out of the boat slip because we had stern lines on pilings behind the boat.  This involved my untying all but 1 bow line, jump on the boat then pull the boat back with the stern lines until I was close enough to reach the piling to slip off the lines.  Luckily, our neighbor Tim came out and helped hold the boat.  Plus the winds decided to die which made it fairly easy.  By 7:15am we were off!

Current weather forecast showed a possible weather window for us getting around Miami around the 22nd or 23rd.  It was not great (5 foot seas) but possible if we could get to Ft. Lauderdale by then for only a 20 mile off-shore run.  There is a fixed bridge in Miami with only 55 foot clearance - we need 61 feet.  It's the only ICW fixed bridge between Norfolk and Miami that's under 65 feet.  What were they thinking?

Anyway, we would have to do several long days to make that window.  We had left early hoping to make Titusville which was over 60 miles - a long run for our slow sailboat.

Winds were helping and we had most of the jib out to increase our speed 1-2 knots.  It was a pretty day as we motor-sailed through Daytona.

Tidal currents helped most of the day and we averaged over 7 knots.  I was pretty sure we could make the anchorage in Titusville before dark so we kept going past Daytona.  No good / favorite anchorages for us between Daytona and Titusville so we were committed.  The LB Knox Bridge opened for us without even having to slow down and we only waited 5 minutes for the George Munson Bridge. 

Another nice jib motor-sail down the Mosquito Lagoon then through the Haulover Canal where, once again, the bridge opened for us without having to slow down.  Now 4 miles motoring into the wind before turning south before the railroad bridge and rolling out the jib again.

We pulled the sail before the Titusville high-rise bridge and turned west into the anchorage.  Geez.  Where did everybody come from?  We had only seen 4-5 boats all day on the water and there were 10 boats anchored here.  After motoring slowly around the anchorage looking for a hole in all the boats big enough for me to safely anchor, we decided to head a little farther south and anchor off the ICW channel.  I guess there were more boats anchored here because of the SpaceX launch tonight.

Oh.  We did "rub" on a shallow mud spot while motoring through the anchorage.  I'm not going to count this as running aground since the boat never stopped.  Those of you who have followed our blog know I try to see how far I can make it down (or up) the ICW before our keel finds the bottom.  I've only made it 3 times in 36 runs.  So far, we're 1,200 miles into this try.

We anchored just before dark at 5:45pm.  It was a nice sunset as we prepared dinner.

It was warm and calm enough for us to eat dinner in the cockpit.  I love dinner in the cockpit because it's a great time to sit and talk about everything.  If we eat downstairs, it's in front of the TV.

No alarm for tomorrow.  We only have a 35 mile run to Melbourne.  No decent anchorages for the north to east winds that we could reach south of that.

Tuesday, December 19th (Day 73) - Titusville to Melbourne

58 degrees.  Water temp 67.  Winds N - NE @ 12-20.  Another pretty day.

34.5 nautical miles today (1,328 total trip miles)

Anchor up at 9am on another chilly morning with north winds.  Another opening bridge was deleted from the ICW as the NASA Causeway Bridge was replaced with a high-rise this summer.  

We were able to jib motor-sail again at lower engine RPM with winds behind us.  We could have just sailed this section but our plan was to get anchored then drop the dinghy and run into Indiatlantic for a walk to the beach.

There were more power and sailboats along this section and I guess we caught everyone now.  I love the Indian River when we can get the sails out.  There are only a few sections where you need to stay in the ICW channel and I usually run way outside the channel (plenty of depth) to give the powerboats room to zoom by without having to slow down.

No problems as we motored through the Melbourne Bridge and turned east into the anchorage.  Only a couple sailboats anchored but plenty of room for us too.  We anchored at 2pm.

Hmmm.  I had anchored about 1/4 mile back from the roadway to cut down on the car / truck noise and the swell from the north wind was coming through the bridge and around the corner at us.  Here's a screenshot from our chartplotter of the anchorage.  The red X is where we anchored and I drew a blue line showing the swell coming through the bridge.

We've seen this happen in the past where we anchor behind something (in the lee) but the swell curves around and gets us anyway.

As I dropped the dinghy, it was bouncing around pretty good on the 1 foot swell / wind-chop.  I felt pretty proud of myself with the balancing act I accomplished to pull-start the outboard as the dinghy and I were going a little crazy.  Laura and I quickly packed and left the boat for an easy motor into the park.  In hindsight, I probably should have anchored closer to the causeway for an easier dinghy launch.

It was much calmer as soon as we motored closer to shore and we tied up a few minutes later at the park near the road.  No problem to lock the dinghy to the park bench with the long cable we have for this purpose.  A few minutes later we were walking into town on wobbly legs that hadn't walked any distance in several days.

The ocean was cranked up from the high winds of the last few days.

Laura only took a short walk on the beach before she gave up from the big winds.  As we walked back to the road, we spotted a Cold Stone Creamery.  ICE CREAM!!  It was wonderful.

Here is a short video I took of the beach and ocean.  

Our legs seemed to loosen up as we finished the 1/2 mile back to the dinghy.  

This cracks me up.  Walking though this small area, it's the perfect picture of Florida towns.  Every other building is a Real-estate office, nail salon or medical office.  Too funny.....

We made it back to the boat with no problems other than tracking mud from the park all over the poor dinghy.  It's gonna need a good cleaning when we get to Marathon.

The off-shore weather still look possible for going around Miami on Friday.  We needed to hustle if we wanted to be in Ft. Lauderdale for that.  Another long day planned for tomorrow.  We need to run the 40 miles to Ft. Pierce then find a place for fuel.  If we still had time after that, we wanted to anchor on the St. Lucie River which would set us up for south Palm Beach on Thursday then Ft. Lauderdale and the 20 mile off-shore run around Miami on Friday.  We "could" still make Marathon for Christmas if all the stars aligned.

Wednesday, December 20th (Day 74) - Melbourne to Stuart

66 degrees.  Water temp 67.  Winds out of the east 8-20 knots.  

64 nautical miles today (1,392 total trip miles)

Early alarm again trying to make miles.  We pulled the hook at 7:15am and motored back to the ICW.  Winds had gone from north to east in the night (as predicted) which made our anchorage much calmer (no swell coming around the bridge).  

Two other sailboats were leaving the anchorage at the same time and we had them in sight most of the day.  I think they were just sailing and we were motor-sailing to make miles so we gradually pulled away from them.

Winds were helping a lot as we motor-sailed the pretty section between Sebastian Inlet and Vero Beach.  I really like this part of the ICW weaving in and around several pretty islands.

Here we are jib motor-sailing through a bridge in Vero.

I had been a little worried about needing fuel before our normal stop in Ft. Pierce but the winds had helped pushed us there so no problem.  Now we needed to decide where to go for diesel.

Our normal stop was the Ft. Pierce City Marina but, when we look on-line at their fuel price, they were around $5 / gallon.  The Pelican Yacht Club was listed at $3.99 / gallon but we had never been there.  We needed over 100 gallons so that was a big difference!

As we approached Ft. Pierce, I checked on-line and the City Marina had dropped their price to $4.12 plus a 10 cent discount for Boat/U.S. which we had.  Since we were very familiar with that marina and knew the fuel dock, we decided to head there.

After a short wait at the Ft. Pierce North Bridge, I called the City Marina on the marine radio.  They said there was a boat on the fuel dock but we could come in for a "short wait".  Hmmm.  That dock was about 120 feet long.  How big was that boat?

As we motored up to the fuel dock, I could see a 40' sailboat exactly in the center of the 120' dock.  The dock attendant should have never put them there.  Now their whole dock was tied up by a 40' boat.  I don't know why this still surprises me.  We've seen it 100s of times.  Most people don't think others when docking (or other things....).  

The marina staff told us "about 5 minutes.  They only have one tank to fill."  After slowly motoring around the marina for 15 minutes, they finally pulled that sailboat back and told us to come in.  Guess it was more then "one tank".

We pulled into the marina and swung around to point into the wind for docking.  This put us bow-to-bow with the other sailboat.  I wondered how he had docked with the 15-20 knot winds behind him.

No problem as we tied up and took on 111.5 gallons of diesel and about 50 gallons of water.  That's over 1,000 pounds added to the boat and it lowered us several inches in the water.

I paid the $440 fuel bill and we untied lines to leave.  Wouldn't you know a 20' pontoon boat pulls in and tries to dock right in front of us (the other sailboat had left already).  Again with the wind behind him it was almost impossible to stop next to the fuel dock and he almost hit us before putting the boat sideways - again, right in front of us.  Wow.  What a zoo.  I think this is all because the people running the fuel dock had no idea what they were doing.  From letting the first boat dock right in the middle to not even trying to help the pontoon boat.  I was SOOOO glad to get out of there.

FOLKS.  FIRST RULE OF DOCKING A BOAT.  ALWAYS DOCK POINTED INTO THE WIND OR CURRENT!

Maybe next time we'll try the Pelican Yacht Club.....

It was now 2:30pm and we had almost 20 miles to anchor in the St. Lucie River.  I thought we could make it with the winds and currents helping.  We turned south down the ICW and rolled out the jib to pull us along.

No problem with the next 20 miles to Jensen Beach and the St. Lucie River.  We anchored by Sewall Point at 5:45pm - almost dark because of all the clouds.  We made it!

I poured a small tequila and sat down to go over the wind and sea forecast for the next few days on Windfinder, PredictWind and Windy apps.  Oh oh.  Seas had gone up a little to over 5 feet and the period (time between the swell) had gong down.  This was going to be much worse than the forecast even a day ago.  Laura and I had dinner in the cockpit again and went over the forecast and our plans.  We both decided that being in Marathon for Christmas was not worth beating up us and the boat in choppy seas.  Tomorrow we'll motor the short distance to Stuart and try to pick up a mooring.  If no moorings, there were nice anchorages near-by.

Thursday, December 21st (Day 75) - Sewall Point to Stuart

64 degrees.  Water temp 67.  Cloudy with occasional light showers.  Winds east 10-15

6.5 nautical miles today.  (1,398.5 total trip miles)

Only a short run to Stuart today so we slept in and didn't pull the anchor until 9:10am.  After passing through the Old Roosevelt Bridge, we motored over to the Sunset Bay Marina mooring field where we found "no room at the inn".  

Instead, we motored about a mile to the NE corner of the St. Lucie North Fork and anchored away from the many crab trap floats at 10:30am.

This was the view from our anchorage.

Laura and I spent a quiet day on the boat getting her in "anchor" mode.  We setup the solar panels and turned on the wind generator.  Nice!  We were charging the batteries at 25-30 amps because of the high winds and little Sun.

We decided not to head into town today and just relax on the boat.  Later in the afternoon we broke out the Mexican Train Dominoes and had a fun several hours in the cockpit before grilling a steak for dinner. 

Plans are to stay in Stuart until after Christmas.  This is an excellent place to "stage" for the off-shore run from Lake Worth to Miami.  There is easy access to town from the park next to the Sunset Bay Marina and several protected anchorages depending on wind direction.

Current forecasts show winds and seas calming next week.  We'll probably leave here on the 26th and motor to Lake Worth.  Then an early morning out Lake Worth inlet for a gentle motor-sail down the coast with light west winds on the 27th.  

We should make Marathon for New Years.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILIES!

 

Beaufort, SC to St. Augustine, FL

Wednesday, December 6th (Day 60) - Beaufort, SC to Isle of Palms, GA

49 degrees, water temp 63.  Winds out of north 10-15.  Cloudy but clearing skies during the day.

46.5 nautical miles today (1035.5 total trip miles)

I don't think either of us slept well because a front came through in the night which brought a big north wind.  This made the wind push the boat into the dock with the corresponding grinding of our fenders (bumpers between the dock and boat). Plus the wind was blowing the boat over a little which made for an uphill walk to the bathroom from our bed.  But hey!  We're a sailboat, right?  We should be used to the boat leaning.  Yes.  But not at the dock....

Fortunately, it was not an early morning underway to make miles.  We were able to sleep in a bit because we had to wait until 9am for the Lady's Island Bridge which was only about 1/2 mile from the marina.

We were off the dock at 8:30am which was a little early for the bridge but I wasn't sure how the boat was going to like leaving with the wind blowing us on the dock.  Leaving a little early gave us some "play" time.  No problemo!  We used a spring line going aft from the bow as I motored forward with starboard steering (the dock was on our starboard side).  The stern nicely came away from the dock.  Then reverse with some throttle and we were away.

At the bridge we waited for about 15 minutes with another sailboat.  Right at 9am the bridge swung open and we were free again.

We had a helping ebb current down the Beaufort river and enjoyed helping winds with our jib out.  As we turned toward Hilton Head Island across Port Royal Sound, I knew the apparent wind would be 20-25 so reefed (pulled in part of) the jib before the turn.  It was a fun ride for the 3+ miles across the sound.

Winds helped us all day as we motor-sailed through Hilton Head and Callibogue Sound.  We followed a tug pushing a crane barge as they entered Ramshorn Creek.  The crane was pretty high and Laura said it didn't look like they were going to make it under the power lines.  I tried calling the tug on VHF 13 and 16 to maybe recommend they lower the crane boom.  After several tries with no answer, I gave up.

As the barge passed under the power lines, the top of the boom caught the bottom wire and broke it in half.  We watched each half of the broken power line fall to the side of the channel with the ends in the water.  Were we going to get electrocuted?  We slowed to a crawl as I again tried to hail the tug on the marine radio.  No answer.  A few minutes later we saw crew on the tug and barge running around.  They knew there was a problem.

They eventually lowered the crane boom and removed the piece of power line that had stuck there.  We were out of the narrow channel and able to pass them shortly after that.  What an bunch of jerks!  If only Laura had taken a video....

I had already broadcast on VHF channel 16 several times, "Tug Grace Myrick in Ramshorn Creek.  Your crane just brought down that power line" so I decided not to call the Coast Guard and report it.  They would be able to follow the AIS track of the tug and see that they went through there around that time anyway.

Sometime in the afternoon we talked about dinner and decided on burgers.  Laura said we were out of hamburger rolls and I asked why she didn't make some.  A couple hours later, this came out of the oven.

We crossed into Georgia an hour or so later and decided to pass on the marinas around Thunderbolt because the winds were supposed to die in the late afternoon and we should have a nice night at anchor. 

We dropped anchor on the Skidaway River near the southern shore at 4:30pm. Winds were dying and we had a very nice cocktail hour in the cockpit watching a colorful sunset.

Burgers from the grill with the fresh rolls were awesome.

Thursday, December 7th (Day 61) - Isle of Palms to North River

48 degrees.  Water temp 61.  Sunny and light north winds

56 Nautical miles today (1091.5 total trip miles)

After sleeping in a little we pulled the anchor at 8:15am.  It was cool but a very pretty morning as the Sun heated up the cockpit.  I was a little concerned about going through Hell Gate around low tide but I hadn't heard of major problems there so figured we'd be good.

An hour or so later the tide had dropped to almost low and I took this picture of a Georgia channel marker at low tide.  Tides here can be over 9 feet.  Compare this picture to the last blog of a marker near the water at high tide.

Now the tide would be coming up for the next 6 hours.  Nice!

No problem with Hell Gate passage and I never saw less than 7.5 feet.  It was a pretty day on the water as we meandered up and down the Georgia ICW.

Our day continued sunny with calm winds.  We anchored near Valona on the North River at 5:15pm.  The sunset that night was beautiful!

I was so impressed with the sunset, I took a video panorama.  Click the picture below to see the full 360 video from our YouTube channel.

 It was a quiet night at this calm anchorage.

Friday, December 8th (Day 62) - North River to Fernandina, FL

54 degrees, water temp 62.  Sunny with calm winds.

67 Nautical miles today - our longest day yet (1158.5 total trip miles)

There were two ICW problem areas for us today.  First, the Little Mud River then, later in the day, Jekyll Island.  The Little Mud shouldn't be a problem since we'd have several feet of tide helping us.  But, we'd be around Jekyll at low tide and that would be bad.

We started early to give us options in the afternoon.  Anchor up at 7:10am before sunrise.  Laura took this picture while we were getting the boat ready to leave the anchorage.  I thought it was such a nice picture with the pelican and water glow from the sunrise.

About 1/2 hour later we navigated through the Little Mud River.  I couldn't believe what the sky colors were doing.  This is my favorite picture of the trip (so far).

We navigated the Georgia ICW for the next few hours as the tide dropped.  After checking several forecasts for off-shore waters and seeing that it was pretty calm, we decided to go out the Brunswick River and by-pass the ICW through Jekyll Island which is very shallow.

At 10:30am we left the ICW and motored out the Brunswick River onto a calm North Atlantic.  The last of the ebb current helped us out the 6 miles of channel before we could turn south toward Florida.

The ride was pretty calm with just a little roll from a maybe 1 foot SE swell.  We eventually pulled out the mainsail and sheeted it in tight to calm down the roll a little.

3 hours later the winds picked up from the east, we rolled out the jib, AND SAILED on a calm ocean.  We both loved it!

By 3pm we were approaching the St. Mary River inlet and started thinking about where we were going to spend the night.  I had made a reservation for Sunday night on a mooring at St. Augustine.  The weather Sunday afternoon was supposed to turn to rain and thunderstorms so wanted to be close to there tomorrow night so we could pick up the mooring early in the day.  I had tried to get a mooring for Saturday also but they were full - the Christmas boat parade was Saturday evening.  The marina put us on the wait list for Saturday.

The flood tide sucked us in St. Marys and down past Fernandina.  WE WERE IN FLORIDA!  I thought it would be warmer....  It was 67 degrees out but the wind was chilly.

We were making such good time I decided to bypass the Fernandina mooring field and anchorage.  We kept going for another hour and anchored in the South Amelia River just before sunset.

There was a small island near us with many white pelicans roosting.  I love white pelicans with their black wing-tips.  They are a little hard to see in the picture because it's zoomed in.  Sorry.

Another quiet night on anchor.  Plans are to anchor just before St. Augustine tomorrow afternoon so we can be on a mooring early in the day on Sunday.

There were storms south of us and we had a little rain in the night.  It was our first rain since leaving Myrtle Beach.  This radar shot was around 6pm.  We are at the blue dot.

Saturday, December 9th (Day 63) - Fernandina to St. Augustine

62 degrees this morning, water temp 67.  It's finally getting warmer!  Sunny and calm.

46 Nautical miles today (1,204 total trip miles)

We only had about 40 miles to go for our next anchorage so we slept in a little.  Anchor up at 8:15am.  As sometime happens, we had helping current for only a little while then it seemed to be against us the rest of the day.

A few hours into the day I got a call from the St. Aug marina.  They had a mooring for us tonight.  Yea!  But, now we need to pick up the pace a little since we had an additional hour of unplanned travel.

After crossing the St. Johns River, we really slowed because of the ebb current.  Approaching the second bridge (Pablo Creek FL10 Bridge) I could see the water churning.  Oh boy.  This was gonna be fun.

As we got closer, I could see it was like a torrent coming our way.  It included a 1 foot standing wave which I've never seen before on the ICW.

Passing through the bridge abutments we slowed to 1.9 knots and I was working the wheel hard to keep the boat in the middle.  We did pop through a few minutes later and I was able to relax.

No worries the rest of the day as the tidal current gradually let up.  We arrived at the St. Augustine inlet at 4:15pm and I called the marina to see where our mooring was.  Turns out it was on the south side so we had to go through the Bridge of Lions Bridge - only a 10 minute wait.

By 4:45pm we were tide up on the mooring.  Laura and I dropped the dinghy then the outboard off the rail before I jumped in the shower and found some clean clothes.   

20 minutes later we were motoring into the marina and had this colorful sunset over the town.

After tying up to the dinghy dock, I walked up to the office to check-in while Laura took a few nice pictures.  First, here is part of St. Augustine with their holiday lights.

I mentioned that the Christmas Boat parade was tonight.  Here are a few picture of the colorful boats.

Wow!  St. Augustine was crazier than we've ever seen it.  It was hard to walk down the sidewalk because of all the people in town.

Since the boat parade was going on, we thought we'd try getting a dinner table at OC Whites across the street from the marina.  The gal at check-in said about 1/2 hour so I put our name on the list.  2 minutes later we luckily scored a seat right in front of the guitar player where we could wait and listen to good music.  I even walked to the bar for a couple cocktails which only took about 20 minutes.

This was our view from the waiting lounge.  I did brighten this picture a little so you could see the guitar player / singer.

We actually had a very fun evening which surprised me considering how many people were milling around.  I struck up a conversation with a couple waiting next to us who were from only 20 minutes away.  They were very interested after hearing we lived on a 43 foot sailboat.  We were texted by the restaurant that our table was ready a short while later.  When we saw the table would seat 4, we invite the other couple to join us and they accepted.  The food was good and company excellent.  

By 8:30pm we were talked out and ready to head back.  The town was still crazy with lots of hootin' and hollerin' as we made our way back to the dinghy and Second Wind.  Wow!  That was a different experience for folks used to isolating by themselves on a sailboat.

Sunday, December 10th (Day 64) - St. Augustine

66 degrees, water temp 67.  Sunny morning with afternoon storms.

Didn't move the boat today.

We sat out the day on the boat tied to a mooring.  Storms were coming this afternoon so we decided to sit tight and enjoy the warm weather.  I spent 3+ hours writing up the previous blog while Laura started her Christmas baking.  She sends candies to her children - at least a box of home-made nougats.  Here she is making a mess of the boat wrapping them all after baking.

I worked a few boat jobs while watching the weather radar on my phone.  By 4pm it started getting very cloudy and I could see lots of storms coming our way.

It started rain and storms about an hour later which lasted into the evening.  Everything seemed to stop around 9pm but you could feel the energy in the air.  It was still very warm and humid.

We hit the sack around 10am and were woken up by very high winds just before midnight.  This was the front coming through.  The boat was moving around with the high winds and the boat's rigging was howling on the higher gusts.  I would estimate winds were 30-40 knots.  We listened at the winds cranking for over an hour.  Luckily, our boat was facing north with the flood current so winds were mostly on the nose.  If we were facing the other way with ebb current, we would have been blown around much more and the waves in the mooring field would have been much higher.

No early alarm for tomorrow since we are only going about 20 miles.

Monday, December 11th (Day 65) - St. Augustine to Palm Coast

52 degrees, water temp 67, 61 in the our cabin.  North wind 10-15 calming in the afternoon

22 Nautical miles today (1,226.5 total trip miles)

We were off the mooring at 8am.  I wanted to leave a little early because we'd be going through a tricky part of the ICW today at Matanzas Inlet and it would be best to have some tide under us.  There was a dredge operating off the ICW that had the waterway blocked by the huge pipes carrying away the dredge materials.  The dredge Captain was directing ICW traffic around the dredged area.  I had seen on Facebook (ICW Cruising Guide page) that many boats had run aground trying to get through.

It was a pretty but cold morning as we motored south of St. Augustine on the ICW.  We had the last of the flood current helping us out so averaged over 7 knots.  No problems through this section which is well marked and we had easy travels to the Crescent Beach Bridge.

There was a 40' (?) powerboat following us all morning.  He didn't want to pass and lead the way through the dredge area so decided to stay behind and follow us.

15 minutes after the bridge we approached the dredge.  There was a sailboat aground which had misread the channel markers and gone on the wrong side of a green before the dredge.  The dredge Captain called us on the marine radio and said in a thick southern-drawl, "Follow the red markers to the west and stay near shore until you are next to the pick-up truck.  Then turn sharply east and come in front of the dredge passing us on your starboard side."  Sounded OK to me.

As we approached the pick-up truck on shore, the Captain called back, "Sailboat.  Start you're turn now and come in front of us."  I did as instructed and didn't have any problems until the front of the dredge.  There was a crab marker right in our way.  I went closer to the dredge than I had planned and our keel was probably over the actual dredge under the water.

No problems though and our depth sounder never said less than 17 feet.  Why were people having all the groundings?

Somehow we had helping tides all day and arrived at the Palm Coast Marina by 11:30am.  A short while later we were tied up to a slip we had booked for a week stay.  I just realized I hadn't taken any pictures today so just went out and took one of the boat.  Here we are!

Pam and Russ spent the last two nights in Fernandina Marina.  Russ texted me that they had waves over the dock last night when we had those high winds in St. Augustine.  They are hustling to get here today so we can spend the evening together.  They will be leaving tomorrow morning to continue the trip south to Marathon.  We will be renting a car tomorrow for a trip north.  Personal business again with plans to return Friday night.  We hope to continue our trip south Saturday or more likely Sunday.  Stay tuned for the continuing adventure.