Movin' Along, No Time to Smell the Roses

Wow, are we bookin'. We made 62 miles today, a new record for us, and in only 9 hours, which is also a new record, for us. Averaging about 7 miles per hour, normally we average only 6 mph.

Yesterday we left Ponce De Leon Inlet. It was an early morning, but we weren't in a huge rush, we were low on fuel, and there was a bridge that needed to open at New Smyrna Beach. We traveled along uneventfully until 2:00 in the afternoon, when we stopped in Titusville to fuel up and pump out the poo tank. All was going well, but we needed to make the bridge at Addison Pt for its last daily opening at 3:30. We had the engine at max throttle, the sails all up, tweaking and trimming, watching for little movements, nerves on the edge. And yep, we missed the bridge by 2 minutes. If the operator had of lifted the bridge at 3:30, we'd have sailed right through by the time it was up, but no, the bugger was not going to let us through, no matter what. To add insult to injury, the next bridge opening wasn't for 2 hours, instead of the usual 1 1/2 rush hour shut down, due to construction and restricted operating hours. Oh goodie.

So, at 5:30 we finally got through the bridge, but since the sun was down, there was no where to go but drop the hook out of the channel. Unfortunately, we didn't go far enough to the left behind the breakwater, and ended up with a nasty chop throughout the night. Live and learn. It makes for a rough night when you are on an automated rocking horse. At least we didn't have to stay there until the bridge opened this morning at 08:00, we could leave any time we wanted. Sun up was at 07:00, sounds good to me.

Today was awesome. We had a destination in mind, but the winds were so strong that we had already reached it shortly after lunch. Not to mention that the waves were so big because of the wind that there was no way we could have anchored there. So we pushed on to a little spot called Pine Island, just a few short miles north of Vero Beach. Our friend Fred, whom we had spoke to on the phone earlier was here with his friends on Barbara. They invited us for dinner, so Serena whipped up a sweet potato casserole, while I got the engine oil changed. Fred played taxi, and we had a great evening, good food, and good friends, who could ask for more.

Tomorrow we are going to push on again, and then hopefully get into Fort Worth on Saturday. After that there really is no rush. The weather man has decided that we probably won't get over to the Bahamas before Xmas, but he may yet change his mind. Besides that, how bad could Xmas in Miami be.....

Cruisin’ Down the Florida ICW

We woke up in St. Augustine to clear skies, and by the time the coffee pot had boiled, we couldn’t see the bow of the boat. Oh goodie, another day of fog. At least we were only planning to make 12 miles to the Matanzas Inlet. We needed to dinghy into town, send out the Xmas presents to the kids, and take advantage of the showers at the marina one more time. By the time we had walked to the Post Office, the fog had still not let up, yet when we walked out of the building, the skies were the clearest we have every seen. It was eerie, but very welcome.

We dinghied back to the boat, and got ready leave. Sitting in the cockpit we got the opportunity to watch someone try to cut over the shoal, and see them hit it dead on. Later we actually talked to them, and they figured that the tide was 5 feet, and they draw 5 ½ feet, and since they couldn’t see the shoal at low tide, there must be enough water. Even to me that seems logical. Just goes to show that cutting corners can be a dangerous thing. We went around the shoal, but we draft a lot less, and probably could have made it. Lesson learned.

If you read the last blog, you know that we never got to see the Bridge of Lions that we went through on the way into St. Augustine, well, here is what it looks like when there is not fog. Very pretty.

Vita in the mooring field. $20 per night, reasonable, but we wouldn’t have even paid that except we needed to get into town to mail the Xmas presents, and there just wasn’t anywhere to land a dinghy for free.

So we left St. Augustine around 11:00, check out time, and made the quiet 2 ½ hour trip down the ICW to Matanzas Inlet, where we anchored just off of the Matanzas Fort. We launched the dinghy, and headed to the beach. The visitors centre offers free ferry rides to the Fort, and free guided tours. It was really cool. And, although this is probably the smallest fort ever built, it was one of the most enjoyable visits I can remember. The park Ranger made it all worth while. Refreshing to meet someone so passionate about his work. Full of information, and friendly, friendly, friendly.

Guard Serena. I’m scared.

This was the hole to climb up to the roof of the fort. Getting up was easy, but getting back down was a little more difficult. I guess the old Spaniards were a little smaller than me.

The working deck. With the original guns.

From the top of the roof I took this picture of the boats at anchor. Vita is the left most boat. There were a couple of others further up that I couldn’t get in the picture. At the beginning of the tour the guide explained the boats out in the anchorage. It was weird to listen to someone tell us about ourselves.

The boats from the fort. Friend or foe!

Main floor of the fort, 6 men shared this room, food, booze, and games. The whole fort only held 7 men.

It was a quiet night, and we woke early to clear skies. So clear that we actually hauled up the anchor and left before the sun was up, with great visibility. It was going to be a long day, we were trying to make 48 miles, and most of it against the tide. So we needed an early start.

We saw this little guy along the way. Far from home, but still see wildlife all the time. In fact at one point today the dolphins were only about a foot from my outstretched hand.

This tug was someone’s home.

So we dropped the hook in Ponce De Leon Inlet, just south of Daytona Beach Florida. It was a good run, and tomorrow we are hoping for another good one. Racing down the coast may not be the most fun way to cruise, but we are trying to get to the Bahamas before they close down the borders. You just never know….

We Escaped the Saint Mary's Vortex

But just barely. The day we were supposed to leave, our friend Kim managed to borrow another friends car, and offered to take us to Walmart. We just couldn't pass that up, so delayed yet again, but for good reason. Thanks Kim. We spent 4 hours in Walmart, provisioning and finishing our Xmas shopping, but we are stocked up big time. Enough to get us all the way to Miami.

Friday morning we rose to a thick fog, and faced the possibility of being stuck again, but after an extra hour we could see far enough that we were willing to make the attempt, and hope that it cleared out before the day got too far along. So we weighed the anchor, said a quick goodbye as we swung passed our friends on Anthyllide, and headed out the channel, against an incoming tide. The vortex was trying hard, but Vita was in good form, and we were determined to make the transition into Florida.

We had a relatively uneventful day cruising down the ICW. The first thing we noticed that was different, was that the crap pots extend well into the channel, sometimes right across the channel, so vigilance was important. We do not want to get one of those crab pot floats wrapped around our prop. A difficult thing to do on our boat, but not impossible, and a real pain in the neck. Our first excitement of the day was pulling into the Jacksonville free town dock at max ebb tide. I had expected to be there at max tide - slack water, which would give us lots of water and no current to deal with, but as luck would have it, I read the current chart as the tide chart and got it completely backwards. A mistake I am not likely to make too many more times. As a result of my error, we were trying to dock in a 2 knot current, in an area that did not provide a whole lot of space and lower water levels. We ended up in backwards, and had to turn the boat around during the next slack water so that we would be able to leave in the morning, as the current would be coming the exact opposite direction, only at max flood. The good news was that we had a great afternoon, even though it was hot as hell, and we enjoyed sundowners with some new friends. In fact, I think Frank is the most enthusiastic Bahamas fan we have ever met. I hope I get the chance to go spear fishing with him in the Exumas one day. My guess is that he has far more to teach than I could possibly learn this season.

This morning dawned to the thickest fog yet. It was bad, pea soup bad, bread batter bad. We waited for an extra hour, and it seemed like it might lift soon, so we untied the dock lines and headed out into the river, expecting it to burn off like the day previously, but it never did. 7 1/2 hours later we tied up to a mooring ball in St. Augustine Florida, after spending the entire day trapped in a little smokey cocoon. It was so bad that Serena had to keep a constant look out while I steered by the chart plotter, the paper chart, and the compass. We would strain our eyes looking for the next mark, and keeping an eye on the depth sounder to make sure that we didn't stray into thin water. It was crazy. I was nervous most of the day, but Serena of course was having a blast. Little miss adrenaline junky. It took both of us to make sure that we stayed in the channel, and didn't hit any of the other boats. Serena did eventually manage enough time to make a quick breakfeast, coffee, and lunch. And I managed a little 45 min cat nap at one point during an easy stretch, but other than that, it was constant game of where the hell are we.

Here was our world for 7 1/2 hours. Every once in a while something would appear out of the fog bank, just to keep us alert.

Coming into St. Augustine, this pretty little ship came out of the fog to greet us, him on the wrong side of the channel and us in the middle of the channel trying to get onto our side. Turns out these are theatre/cruise boats. They put on theme based shows for the paying crew. It looked neat, and maybe one day will break down and pay the $40 a head, but not today. The bigger problem was the twit in the big power boat that was following this boat out of the inlet instead of using his own charts to navigate. He was so worried about losing the track of the boat in front, that he almost ran us over. We managed to get out of his way, but it was close.

The picture above shows us waiting for the Bridge of Lions at St. Augustine. The bridge is right in front of the power boat off of our bow, but we can't see it. We barely saw the power boat, but we knew it was there, because he had just trashed us with his wake, in the channel, and we heard him talking to the bridge operator.

St. Augustine is amazing, even in the fog. We walked around the downtown area, had some ice cream and fudge, and soaked up the atmosphere. Xmas lights everywhere, people everywhere, and dozens of cute little shops, and bars and restaurants. It can't be explained, it has to be experienced. However, true to form, I couldn't get over the fact that I was going cruising to get away from the kind of commercialism that spawns this type of setting, and the observation that this place is made of money, lots and lots of money.

Now its time to relax. Tomorrow we are not planning on going far, but we need to get into town and send off the Xmas presents to our kids and grandbaby back home. Then its off to somewhere we can prepare for the trip to the Bahamas, either West Palm Beach or Miami, we'll see when we get there.

Cheers. And happy holidays.

Saint Marys GA, and Cumberland Island

Our friends told us that Cumberland Island was a magical place, and I hope they don't mind me stealing their term, but it is exactly that. It is Jurassic Park meets Jules Verne. And it truly is a very unique and magical place. We could probably have spent months there, but will have to suffer with a day trip and a couple of beautiful evenings at anchor.

So we left off the last blog having just arrived in Saint Mary's. We went to the oyster bake, and tried oysters for the first time. I was okay with them, although the mess didn't really seem worth it. Serena was unimpressed. But we did have fun hanging out with all the cruisers, and drinking cheap 2 for 1 beer. The Riverview hotel here really goes out of their way to welcome cruisers.

The thanksgiving dinner was excellent. Good food and good friends. Our friend Kim called our table the "kids table", as the six of us were definitely among the youngest at the dinner. All of our ages falling between 35 and 49.

We managed to get some things done, but at the cost of our tired feet and legs. In 4 days we walked 22 miles, to the bank machine, for laundry, for food and beer, for propane, and boat parts. We still need to find a good grocery store as we are starting to get low on some of the staples, fresh fruits and vegetables, yogurt, munchies, etc...

The weather hadn't been all that good until a couple of days ago. So nothing really exciting happened until we made the short 5 mile trip over to Cumberland Island. Now we are back in Saint Mary's for a couple of days, and the weather is beautiful. We received the parts for our engine, and this morning I put a new seal in our engine raw water pump to stop the leaking. I also rebedded the forward hatch that has been soaking the bathroom every time it rains. Serena stayed below tearing apart and cleaning the entire salon area. It seems we have finally managed to grow our first mold farm. We've heard that it is a constant problem on a boat, but until now we have been lucky. The good news is that it wasn't bad yet, and Serena managed to get rid of it. I guess we are going to have to be a little more diligent with our spring cleaning. Which, in a house, happens ever spring, and on a boat happens ever 4 or 5 weeks.

Our first alligator. Mind you this one isn't going to scare anyone. It is part of the display for the Saint Mary's Visitor Center, and made of plastic I think.

Pizza. Serena makes a killer pizza, and it is quickly becoming a staple aboard Vita.

Cumberland Island. And all these freaky looking trees are oaks. Not like any oaks we have at home.

This is Dungeness. An estate that was originally built on the island way back in the 1800s, and after being destroyed by fire, was rebuilt a few years later, only to be destroyed by fire again. Maybe somebody's trying to tell them something. There is a sorted history that goes along with this place, but I couldn't even begin to cover it here. Suffice to say, if you ever make it down here, this is a must see.

The trails are even freakier looking. See Jurassic park!!

The eastern side of the island borders on the Atlantic Ocean, and has some of the biggest and most beautiful sand dunes we have ever seen.

Fixer upper anyone?

Now this is a beach. To bad the water is so darn cold.

The island is also home to a bunch of ferral horses. We got our first glimpse of them out on the beach. We got pretty close to them, but this stallion made it clear that he wasn't entirely happy with our presence. Mind you, he didn't go anywhere. We finally decided to leave him along and let him eat.

We had no map of the island, so we were kind of stumbling around based on a look at a map from several days before. It was fun, as we stumbled across things that we didn't know were even there. Like this boardwalk in the middle of nowhere. There were geckos all over sunning themselves. The little guy above was caught by the tail. No worries, the big mean human didn't harm him.

We walked out of a wooded area into this desolate area with sand and dead trees. Neat, but more freaky.

We eventually ended up back at the Dungeness ruins. The tide had gone out, so it gave us access to the area where we could dig for sharks teeth in the tailings from when they dredged the entrance to the ocean.

I would say poor stranded jelly fish, but I'm not a big fan of them.

Above, these little crabs were everywhere, scurrying around. Below, lots of them.

We spent about 2 hours digging for sharks teeth, and we left with one black one. Oh well, better luck next time.

We even got to see a bambie while we wandered through the trails on our way back to the dock where our dinghy was tied.

Yep, gnarly trees. Cool, but definitely gnarly and freaky!!

A week and a half we've been here. Bad weather, broken boat, sight seeing, friends, and parties. Its time to move on. People jokingly say there is a vortex at Saint Mary's that is difficult to escape. We'll see how it goes tomorrow morning, cross fingers, knock on wood.

Onward and southward.

November 2013 Recap

Dates: Nov 1-30, 2013

Elizabeth City, NC – Bath, NC – Washington, NC – Southport, NC – South Carolina – Darien, GA – Saint Mary’s, GA

Sailing: 12.5 hrs

Motoring: 131 hrs (includes motor-sailing)

Mileage: 573 Nm (Nautical Miles)

Budget Amount:      $1590.00 US (All budgeting is in US funds)

Charts/Books:          $      0.00     

Boat Parts:               $  470.00     

Marinas:                   $    40.00

Diesel:                      $  186.00

Beer:                        $   174.00

Grocery:                   $  461.00

Restaurant:               $  117.00

Fees/Services:          $    60.00     (pump-outs, laundry, wifi, taxis, etc...)

Clothing/Shopping   $    35.00

Misc:                        $    47.00     (Propane, etc...)

Total:                      $1590.00

Debit/Credit:          $       0.00

Okay, happy dance. We’re in budget, but just. We were down to 0$ with 3 days left to go, so we just didn’t spend anything, not even a coffee. Serena was determined to make it under budget. When you consider that we are in a pretty expensive area, and we replaced the house bank (batteries), this is quite the accomplishment for us. We didn’t really give up too much either. We just tried to make sure that we only bought the things we needed, instead of the things we though we needed. Unfortunately, December will probably be a right off as we buy presents for our kids back home, and provision heavily for the Bahamas. But who knows, Serena may pull a rabbit out of the hat before the 31^st.

Things We Learned

1. 10 lbs of propane originally lasted us 3 months, then 6 weeks, and the last tank lasted 4 weeks. Eventually maybe will have it down to a tank a day! But realistically, it has been cold, and it takes a lot more propane to warm water for showers, and dishes, not to mention the odd time just to take the chill off the cabin. Plus, we have been doing a lot of baking, and using the barbecue more than usual. However, we have now set up our planning for 4 weeks per 10lb, and if we get a little more out a tank, great.

2. Even boats with a shallow draft eventually run aground. But at least when it happens in the ICW it sounds like smoosh, in contrast to the loud “thud” that it makes in our home waters.

3. Sweet peppers don’t last long on a boat. However, if you buy the little small sweet peppers in a bag, although more expensive, they last about 4 times as long, and they don’t need to be refrigerated. Thanks Kim.

4. When the weather is nice, it is hard to decide whether to go for a walk, run errands, or do boat chores. Because, when the weather is bad, all you want to do is hide under a blanket.

5. Wind against tide in an anchorage is not really important, unless you are trying to get back to your boat in a dinghy that is rather wet in a chop. We were soaked, and I was standing in 8” of saltwater in my new shoes.

6. Always, always, always,,,,, have at least two painters on a dinghy when it is tied to the boat. We didn’t lose the dinghy, but it was close. We had two lines, but the primary let go in a nasty wind, and the secondary wasn’t really up for the task. Luckily the outboard motor smacked into the hull and alerted us that something was wrong.

7. When someone offers you a ride, take it. Because you may need to use that energy later for the time when no one offers you a ride. When we started this adventure, we rarely accepted rides, one because we did not want to inconvenience people, but also because of some purist notion that it was our responsibility to do the work for ourselves. That whole attitude starts to change after 3 or 4 – 4 mile walks in a couple of days. If someone offers you a ride take it. Save yourself, and give someone else that feeling of being a good Samaritan.

8. Wind verses current. My friend and I got in a disagreement a few weeks ago reference wind verses current. He stated that current will always overcome wind. My argument was that at some point the forces of wind will overcome the forces of current, which, according to physics 101, is true. However, generally speaking his statement is more accurate than not as it takes an enormous amount of wind to overcome a rather light current. For our boat, about 15 kts of wind to .8 kts of current. More importantly though, it has made me take special notice of how the boat reacts to wind and tide. I have found that wind has a greater effect on the position of the boat in relation to the anchor, where as current has a greater effect on attitude of the boat, (causing the boat to point into the current. A strong wind will put more strain on the anchor and chain than a strong current, which I found odd, but has been proven to me over and over. But all this explains why the anchor can be out to the side of the boat instead out in front as we traditionally think of it.

8a. This is related to the above, and its an observation with regards to anchoring in tide. People who have never had to deal with tides before, including us, assume that with the tide changing every 6 hours, causes the anchor to reset every 6 hours, which means that 4 times a day, there is a potential for the anchor to drag. But, what we have found is that the tide shift is about the best anchor setter there is. It happens very slowly, giving the anchor tons of time to grab a hold and get a really good grip. We’ve noticed that most people who have a hard time anchoring, are trying to set their anchor too fast, not giving the anchor enough time to settle in. It takes time to set an anchor well, and the tide change gives it loads of time, more than any crew.

That's it for this month. Next month I will try and do this again. The format may change a little as I go. If anyone reading the blog would like to see anything in particular, let me know, I may be able to squeeze it in, especially if it seems like good info to pass on.

Now back to your regular blogging........

Vita Stuck in the Mud

They say there are two types of cruisers on the ICW. Those who have been aground, and those who will be aground. And now we have accomplished both. Yep, that's right, even at 3' 8", which is considered a very shallow draft, we found the bottom right in the middle of the channel, parked between a green and a red marker.

So, we left Darien, and took the advice from a couple of locals, through our friends Brian and Anne, of a short cut through a locally known, unmarked back way, that, would shave 13 miles off of our trip down the ICW. And I know what your thinking, but we didn't go aground during that route. In fact it was a genuine shortcut, with lots of water. A little narrow at times, say 20' across, but the depth was good. We met a small 12' fishing boat in one tight spot, and there really wasn't much room for both of us. We could have shook hands as we past. One of the fisherman said he cut the trolling motor so as not to wake us. Sense of humor in the middle of freaking nowhere. Gotta love the south.

The winds have been nasty the last few days, so we decided to take the alternate ICW route around Jekyll Sound, instead of having to go all the way out to the sea buoy before coming back in. We anchored in a little creek just inside of the alternate route for the night. It blew like stink. We don't have an anemometer, but the forecast was for gale force winds, and I think we got them.

The next morning we got up at 6:00, the wind still howling, and headed out at first light. Determined to finish the 35 miles to St. Mary's before the rain that was forecasted showed up on Tuesday. And, 10 mins after we lifted the hook, we ran aground, between the first two markers. First things first, we have limited time, because the tide is going out, which means we would have ended up stuck even worse, and waiting for the tide to come back in. We launched the dinghy, put out a stern anchor and tried to kedge the boat back into the deeper water that we had come from, but no luck. Then our friends Ann and Neville came through the cut, so I dinghied over to them and let them know that they should go into the side creek and drop the hook. Ann says, its okay, we only draw one meter, and I said yep, and we draw 3' 8". So they decided they go anchor for the time being. Serena and I then tried to heel the boat over with a halyard to see if we could get her out that way, but no joy, she was stuck good, and we were quickly losing what precious water we had. Lastly, I checked the depths around the boat with our handheld depth sounder and found we had 5' of water at the bow. That meant that we were almost past the shoal, we had only to get the boat a few more feet and we would be free. Rochna to the rescue. I dinghied our main anchor out in front of the boat 60' or so and used the windlass to drag the boat across the rest of the shoal into deeper water. Free at last. Serena was driving the boat, so I quickly secured the anchor and went to radio Ann and Neville to tell them, that if they stay to the west side of the channel they would be okay. While doing that we had another mini emergency, the wind and current was so strong that it driven us up against the bank on the west side of the cut. Luckily, the water was deep enough that we just sat there against the side. I jumped out from down below to find that the boat wasn't in gear. In all the excitement Serena hadn't put the boat in gear. As we were moving along a good pace, she thought we were already in forward, and it didn't cross her mind. So in gear, and we easily pulled off of the grassy bank, and back into the channel. I went back down below and finished the radio conversation with Ann. Emergency over...... There were three more spots on the way out of the bypass that read 4' on the depth sounder, obviously not a good route for deeper boats.

We arrived in St. Mary's around 2:30 pm, dropped the hook in the anchorage with the other 20 boats, and had a nice cold beer.

The weather has really put a big damper on things for the last couple of days. We made it to happy hour the first night, visited with our friends on Anthyllide, we got propane, and finally wifi. Tonight is the oyster bake, and it will be our first time eating oysters. Then tomorrow is the Thanksgiving celebration that is put on by the town people. It promises to be a lot of fun. Then who knows. If the weather clears up, we'll probably go over to Cumberland Island for a couple of days, before we head further south.

Lost Along The Way

Well, sort of, we are no longer on the ICW, but the little town of Darien called to us. It has a grocery store, a hardware store, and a 48 hr free dock, those called a little too. So off the beaten track we are, about 7 miles out of the way, and we'll be headed back soon. I think I mentioned before that we are small town people, and Darien is definitely small town. Ironically, we were figuring that we would be all by ourselves, off the beaten path, but when we showed up our friends Anne and Brian of Sea Angel we're already tied up to the dock. We met them in Elizabeth City and did the Art (free drinks and food) Tour with them. Turns our the free dock called to them too.

Mornings are beautiful, its hard not to take a picture.

Sometimes the days are beautiful too, and its hard not to take a picture.

Okay, I bought the shirt in Annapolis, that said "Sail Naked", but its hard to follow the advice and wear the shirt. If anything, I am an advocate of the things I preach, so here it is, proof. It was hot, I was hot, and somehow it just happened. So of course Serena needed photographic proof. 

Serena wanted a picture of the "Polar Bear" before I shaved it off. I couldn't take it anymore. I guess I will always be a clean faced guy.

Shrimp boats everywhere. We finally broke down and bought some local shrimp. Not off the boat, as we would like, but out of the back of a pick-up. Which is pretty much the same thing down here.

Grocery day. Notice our trained pack mule. Two carts, back pack, plastic bag with roasted chicken in teeth. This was obviously a staged photo, because Serena carried the chicken back to the boat. And you think I jest, but pulling both carts is easier on my back than just one. But more importantly me pulling two carts is way easier on Serena. And you all thought the chivalry was dead.

So, it has been a very successful reprovision, and a nice little stop. We are still trying to make St. Mary's for Thanksgiving, its only two days away, but there is a nasty storm blowing in tonight that is threatening to cause a lot of havoc for the next 4 days. Oh goodie, wet, cold, and windy, our favorite! We may sit here one more day.

Kisses and hugs.