We arrived in Charleston Wednesday around 5 pm after spending last night in Port Royal Landing Marina near Beaufort SC. The Marina was great with excellent help and local knowledge. Fabulous hamberger and fries! Met the folks in the Kia Orana, a PDQ 36, that is traveling on roughly our same schedule. Will definitely stay there if we are this way again. They have made several trips and had a lot of good insight to share. Staying in the St John's Yacht Harbor tonight. Nice facility with a beautiful swimming pool. No restaurant nearby was the biggest drawback. But good price for Boat US members.
First day (in several) without any threat of grounding. Beautiful weather today. Sunny, winds 5-10. Our brand new electronic chart dropped it's magenta line as we entered the Edisto River, so Ken is trying to reload the old chart for the remainder of our trip. It was interesting to navigate using depth chart and compass headings and referring to paper charts. We made good use of "Otto" (auto pilto) today because there were long stretches between markers.
Some games you can play on this part of the trip:
1. Breezes or Bugs? (would you rather have nice breezes in the cockpit or insects (they have been with us every since Kilkenny--our insect screens really saved us there)).
2. Bird or crabpot? Is that item floating in the channel along the magenta line a crab pot marker or a bird?
It is interesting to read the complaints of how little money lower South Carolina and Georgia get for dredging. It has become a self fullfilling prophecy. They have crappy bridge schedules and do nothing to keep obstructions (including dozens of crab pots) out of the ICW. They let markers fall down and/or get dragged out of place. So, traffic goes outside. So they get no moeny for dredging. If they want commercial traffic, they need to keep the waterways clear of crab pots, not close their bridges for 3 hours at a time and keep markers where they belong. Providing good tide/current information would be helpful as well (these areas have been having up to 10 feet tidal swings).
Some stats: Since leaving North Palm Beach, we have covered 540 statute miles, with approximately 300 more to go. Since leaving St. Augustine, we have averaged 61 statute miles per day.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
Tidbits from St. Augustine
Bridge of Liars: In an earlier blog, we mentioned getting caught unaware that the Bridge of Lions at St. Augustine would be closed from 8 pm Monday to S am on Saturday. As we were docked in St. Augustine waiting to go north, we saw the bridge open at least once or twice every day to let their buddies through. On Saturday morning, without notice, one sailboat hailed it and it opened at 7:30 for them. Who knew. But the funniest was the freudian slip by one sailboat that shall remain nameless, calling them the Bridge of Liars. I suspect that several days of watching the bridge open for insiders was a little too much for that guy. Keep in mind, never once was this bridge closing announced by the Coast Guard in their daily notices. The bridge was to be open from last Saturday at 8 am until Monday at 8 pm, when it would again close for the week. So the bridge likely had a lot of traffic with nearly two weeks of normal traffic jammed into three days. About noon on Sunday, the Coast Guard announced that the bridge would be unexpectedly closed from noonish until 3 for the "Blessing of the Boats." Still never mentioned that it closed for the week on Monday! Guess they don't really like boat traffic.
As we were all motoring around waiting for the Bridge to open Saturday morning, one of the boaters quipped that it looked like a restart in Daytona.
Restaurants we liked in St. Augustine: Casa Maya--really good. Bistro De Leon and Tasting Room
As we were all motoring around waiting for the Bridge to open Saturday morning, one of the boaters quipped that it looked like a restart in Daytona.
Restaurants we liked in St. Augustine: Casa Maya--really good. Bistro De Leon and Tasting Room
Kilkenny? Don't Tempt Me!
At 4:30 on Monday March 29, we pulled into the Kilkenny Marina on Kilkenny Creek at mile 614 of the ICW. Trust me, this place should be a last resort. Gay won't get off the boat.
To catch you up on our trip, we finally passed under the Bridge of Lions (actually hailed as Bridge of Liars by one of the boats--more on that later), at the 8 am opening on Saturday 3/27. We traveled about 8.5 hours to get to Fernandina Beach covering 61.25 statute miles. We had a great dinner at a little restaurant called Espana. Fernandina is certainly on the list of places to stop when in the area again. On this leg we ran into several sailboats in a convey, including Galina and Arden (we met Arden on our way into St. Augustine) and kept up chatter throughout the next few days as we were all on a march north. We were the 3rd Beneteau 393 in that marina that night (pretty amazing considering there were less than 400 of them produced).
On Sunday, we had a short day as the weather threatened and we did not want to continue through some very shallow spots at low tide. We stopped at St. Simon's Island and stayed at Morningstar Marina. What a great place. When we woke up Monday morning, there were muffins and a newspaper in our cockpit. We covered only 40.7 statute miles in about 5 hours that day. Ken had his own experience kissing the bottom in Jekyll Creek, so now we are even. Docked next to us was the catamarran Symmetry owned by Larry and Roberta Jones of Merrit, NC. Larry recognized Gay from seeing her around Oriental this fall and Gay saw Roberta's Oriental shirt and we exchanged Oriental stories. With the early stop, Gay made gluten free brownies.
On Monday we went from St. Simon's to Kilkenny Creek and stopped in a marina out of some time warp. Ken called it the Bates Marina. We covered 62 statute miles in a little over 9 hours. We had numerous instances of very shallow water, often times, 5 feet less than that shown as lowest low tide on the charts. Ken ran hard aground at the spot where marker 131A was supposed to have been (it was missing) in Johnson Creek between miles 624 and 629. It was a very low, low tide. Gay went around the boat poking an extended boat hook to find the bottom and we were able to power off after much effort. No speed gauge from that point on in the trip!
Tomorrow Hell Gate. After kissing the bottom last week, Gay has gotten fairly adept at sniffing out enough depth to squeak through in most areas (while she is at the helm in shallow depths, she watches only the depth meter and Ken has to tell her if she is going to run into anything--like a crab pot or marker). But even she did not want to hit Hell Gate at the end of this day. Hence Kilkenny.
To catch you up on our trip, we finally passed under the Bridge of Lions (actually hailed as Bridge of Liars by one of the boats--more on that later), at the 8 am opening on Saturday 3/27. We traveled about 8.5 hours to get to Fernandina Beach covering 61.25 statute miles. We had a great dinner at a little restaurant called Espana. Fernandina is certainly on the list of places to stop when in the area again. On this leg we ran into several sailboats in a convey, including Galina and Arden (we met Arden on our way into St. Augustine) and kept up chatter throughout the next few days as we were all on a march north. We were the 3rd Beneteau 393 in that marina that night (pretty amazing considering there were less than 400 of them produced).
On Sunday, we had a short day as the weather threatened and we did not want to continue through some very shallow spots at low tide. We stopped at St. Simon's Island and stayed at Morningstar Marina. What a great place. When we woke up Monday morning, there were muffins and a newspaper in our cockpit. We covered only 40.7 statute miles in about 5 hours that day. Ken had his own experience kissing the bottom in Jekyll Creek, so now we are even. Docked next to us was the catamarran Symmetry owned by Larry and Roberta Jones of Merrit, NC. Larry recognized Gay from seeing her around Oriental this fall and Gay saw Roberta's Oriental shirt and we exchanged Oriental stories. With the early stop, Gay made gluten free brownies.
On Monday we went from St. Simon's to Kilkenny Creek and stopped in a marina out of some time warp. Ken called it the Bates Marina. We covered 62 statute miles in a little over 9 hours. We had numerous instances of very shallow water, often times, 5 feet less than that shown as lowest low tide on the charts. Ken ran hard aground at the spot where marker 131A was supposed to have been (it was missing) in Johnson Creek between miles 624 and 629. It was a very low, low tide. Gay went around the boat poking an extended boat hook to find the bottom and we were able to power off after much effort. No speed gauge from that point on in the trip!
Tomorrow Hell Gate. After kissing the bottom last week, Gay has gotten fairly adept at sniffing out enough depth to squeak through in most areas (while she is at the helm in shallow depths, she watches only the depth meter and Ken has to tell her if she is going to run into anything--like a crab pot or marker). But even she did not want to hit Hell Gate at the end of this day. Hence Kilkenny.
Friday, March 26, 2010
Gay Explains the Cost of Boats
When a friend asked about how much boats like ours cost beyond inital acquisition, Gay explained it like this:
- Take the sticker price
- Pretty much double it because of everything you add to the boat (roughly computed as follows):
- Anything small that is not electronic or optical (think a fender, a rope, a chart, a guide book): Average cost per item is $100
- Anything pretty substantial that is attached to the boat in some way (think davits, dinghy, bow thruster, generator set): Average cost per item is $10,000
- Pretty much anything else averages $1000 per item
Thursday, March 25, 2010
The Magenta Line is no longer Gay's BFF
Okay, we knew that the shoaling that the Coast Guard had been announcing for days (to as little as 3 feet of depth at mean low tide) precluded following our charts so we sought local knowledge to navigate the Matanzas inlet area. We researched tide tables and slowed way down to transit the area during a rising tide. We talked to others who transited the area ahead of us. And we came through without any issues, the shallowest area we found was 9.8 feet at statute miles 792-3 (and we draw 5'1"). We hugged the west side of the water, staying within 30-50 feet of the bank. If we had followed the charts, the markers or the magenta line, we would have run hard aground. Someone in front of us who had done just that is actually in the boat yard awaiting repairs.
In spite of that, after clearing the area that was supposed to be shoaling, Gay returned to the magenta line and markers to finish up the last seven miles into St. Augustine. At statute mile 785 on the ICW (where all charts, books and everyone indicate a minimum 10 foot depth and we were there at high tide (+4.7)), with a crab pot in the middle of the water Gay followed the magenta line and noticed depths going from 12 to 10 to 9 to 8 feet. (At that point she put the boat in idle and seriously screamed for Ken to come up to the cockpit). Ken came running and threw the boat into reverse just as the depth meter showed 5 feet (remember we draw 5'1"). Of course we continued forward for a short time and the depth meter showed 4 feet by the time Ken was able to reverse the course. We were sitting on top of the sandy bottom. Ken was able to power us out of the situation and we never came to a stop or hard bump. Nonetheless, for Gay anyway, it was the end of her love affair with the magenta line. We have had much harder hits, but not with Gay at the helm. Wonder how long it will take for her to get up to full speed at the helm again.
In spite of that, after clearing the area that was supposed to be shoaling, Gay returned to the magenta line and markers to finish up the last seven miles into St. Augustine. At statute mile 785 on the ICW (where all charts, books and everyone indicate a minimum 10 foot depth and we were there at high tide (+4.7)), with a crab pot in the middle of the water Gay followed the magenta line and noticed depths going from 12 to 10 to 9 to 8 feet. (At that point she put the boat in idle and seriously screamed for Ken to come up to the cockpit). Ken came running and threw the boat into reverse just as the depth meter showed 5 feet (remember we draw 5'1"). Of course we continued forward for a short time and the depth meter showed 4 feet by the time Ken was able to reverse the course. We were sitting on top of the sandy bottom. Ken was able to power us out of the situation and we never came to a stop or hard bump. Nonetheless, for Gay anyway, it was the end of her love affair with the magenta line. We have had much harder hits, but not with Gay at the helm. Wonder how long it will take for her to get up to full speed at the helm again.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
St. Augustine for several days!!
Just to update our itinerary, we left Titusville (still soggy) on Monday and made it to Daytona. Docked in the same marina as on the way down. (Do not bother with the pizza and/or greek salad from Stavros recommended by the dockmaster.) Monday evening we learned that the bridge at St. Augustine closed at 8 pm Monday and will not re-open until 8 am on Saturday. Ken learned a big lesson about reviewing the notices to mariners (and Gay learned there was such a thing) as we could have easily made it through the bridge by cutting the extra days we spent in Palm Beach and Ft. Pierce. What was surprising is that ever since we left Palm Beach, the Coast Guard had been broadcasting many notices of severe shoaling at St. Augustine, but never once in their broadcasts did they mention the bridge closure. The only bascule bridge manager that mentioned it was one mile from St. Augustine. Of course, we only had ourselves to blame, but we soon discovered we were not the only ones in the dark. As we approached the marina at St. Augustine, a furious j-boat captain came rushing at us in his dinghy ranting about the bridge closure (he was supposed to have his boat pulled on the other side of the bridge and he had a plane ticket home on Friday). The bridge's location prevented not only prevented us from proceeding up the ICW, it also prevented us from getting out the inlet. So, no where to go (unless we wanted to go back to Titusville or Fort Pierce and out to the ocean--and by the time we got there and back up here, it would have been Saturday anyway).
Once I saw St. Augustine, I got over my chagrin and decided to enjoy the town. The municipal marina is awesome (although I feel a little like a zoo animal with all the people standing at the entrance to the docks and looking at the boats). They put us in one of the gigantic luxury boat slips so we had no problems docking in spite of the current (and no bow thruster). The marina facilities are superb (still not River Dunes) and the town itself is amazing. If we had to get stuck someplace, this was the place. Great restaurants, interesting people, great shopping, good climate. Beaches. Definitely Aspen by the sea. On Yelp there were 40 4 star restaurants within three-tenths of a mile from the marina. We at dinner last night at a tapas place, The Tasting Room. Definitely better than anything close to a marina we have seen.
Today, Wednesday, we spent time doing all the things you do when you stay in a marina for a while--sleeping in, working on the boat, doing laundry, walking, and taking a dinghy ride out to the ocean.
Once I saw St. Augustine, I got over my chagrin and decided to enjoy the town. The municipal marina is awesome (although I feel a little like a zoo animal with all the people standing at the entrance to the docks and looking at the boats). They put us in one of the gigantic luxury boat slips so we had no problems docking in spite of the current (and no bow thruster). The marina facilities are superb (still not River Dunes) and the town itself is amazing. If we had to get stuck someplace, this was the place. Great restaurants, interesting people, great shopping, good climate. Beaches. Definitely Aspen by the sea. On Yelp there were 40 4 star restaurants within three-tenths of a mile from the marina. We at dinner last night at a tapas place, The Tasting Room. Definitely better than anything close to a marina we have seen.
Today, Wednesday, we spent time doing all the things you do when you stay in a marina for a while--sleeping in, working on the boat, doing laundry, walking, and taking a dinghy ride out to the ocean.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Soggy in Titusville!
We left Fort Pierce at the crack of 10 on Saturday. Although we had hoped to make it to Cocoa (and probably could have), we decided to stop again in Eau Gallie and stay at the same marina (Telemar) since we were familiar with everything. Besides, it gave us a chance to have drinks on the boat with Beth and Scott (to catch the sunset) and then we went to the outdoor, waterfront restauant where they will be married in a few weeks. What a great place to hold a wedding. The entire day was absolutely beautiful with plenty of sun. According to our electronics, the current and the wind were directly opposite each other, but the only difficulties were in dodging all the small power boats that were enjoying one of their first warm days.
We left Eau Gallie Sunday morning headed for New Smyrna Beach. The last few rays of sun shined as we pulled away from the dock. The day progressed to clouds and then to rain. The Indian River is a long flat stretch of water running north and south. With winds mostly directly from the south, we had following seas with 4-5 foot swells and winds that started the day in the teens but quickly went into the mid-20's. As we passed through the Titusville swing bridge, we had to choose between venturing on another 30 statute miles or taking safe shelter in the Titusville Municipal Marina. Although we were hoping to see some different stops on our way north and cover at least 50 statute miles every day, with the deteriorating weather conditions, we pulled into the marina. As before, the help was extremely competent and we were quickly secure in our slip. Not a moment too soon, as the heavens opened up and sheets of rain came down. No visibililty. Lightning is predicted.
Not wanting to cook, Gay checked out dining options and rated them as shot, stabbed or poisoned and opted to cook on board. (KFC, Burger King or Papa Johns). Actually the restaurant a little over one mile away rates high on most peoples' lists, but with the rain, just not worth the soggy trip.
We left Eau Gallie Sunday morning headed for New Smyrna Beach. The last few rays of sun shined as we pulled away from the dock. The day progressed to clouds and then to rain. The Indian River is a long flat stretch of water running north and south. With winds mostly directly from the south, we had following seas with 4-5 foot swells and winds that started the day in the teens but quickly went into the mid-20's. As we passed through the Titusville swing bridge, we had to choose between venturing on another 30 statute miles or taking safe shelter in the Titusville Municipal Marina. Although we were hoping to see some different stops on our way north and cover at least 50 statute miles every day, with the deteriorating weather conditions, we pulled into the marina. As before, the help was extremely competent and we were quickly secure in our slip. Not a moment too soon, as the heavens opened up and sheets of rain came down. No visibililty. Lightning is predicted.
Not wanting to cook, Gay checked out dining options and rated them as shot, stabbed or poisoned and opted to cook on board. (KFC, Burger King or Papa Johns). Actually the restaurant a little over one mile away rates high on most peoples' lists, but with the rain, just not worth the soggy trip.
Friday, March 19, 2010
It is time to turn around!
Gay returned to West Palm on Tuesday. After reviewing various options and Gay's availability, we have decided it is time to head back to River Dunes. In Florida, there are few navigable inlets that allow easy access from the ocean to the ICW. Lake Worth (West Palm) is one as is Fort Pierce. Since we loved the 7 bridges that had to be opened on the ICW in that stretch and all the power boats darting around and leaving huge weeks in the narrow channel (not), we decided it would be much more pleasant to cover that leg in the ocean. All in all, it was about 60 nm from dock to dock. Gay's assessment of her choices were:
a. long stretches of boredom interspersed with a little terror at the docks (Ken has managed fine without the bow thruster--it is just that Gay freaks out knowing it is not there as a backup);
b. bridges, bridges, bridges, traffic, traffic, traffic but never a moment of boredom!
c. fly home and abandon ship!
Eager to get underway, we chose "a" even though we knew there would be stiff winds and 5-7 foot seas (the forecast for Friday in that area was even worse and we would have had to wait a few more days to go outside or take the ICW on the weekend--neither of those choices was very appealing). It was a rollicking ride with wind averaging in the 20's and gusts up to 30 and seas that often were over 7 feet. Those conditions actually made the trip more boring as it was impossible to do anything but hang around in the cockpit and we met only two or three other boats on the water during the entire trip. Frankly, we all handled the trip with ease. We continue to be pleased with the choice of the Beneteau 393. The Fort Pierce Inlet had to be the easiest inlet we have traveled since getting Patina. Deep and wide, not heavily trafficked. We spent the night in the Pelican Yacht Club and would highly recommend it. The help at the dock was amazing, the yacht club was quite nice with good food, nice pool, great views. There are numerous little shops within walking distance and the Atlantic beaches are only a one mile walk. We decided to stay here an extra day to enjoy the area. It is not yet "southern Florida-ized". The highs today are supposed to be in the mid-seventies (compared to the snow in the Denver).
Patina was encrusted with salt from the top of the dodger to the smallest crevices as we had lots of water crashing on the boat. The dodger, bimini and enclosure kept the cockpit very comfortable. The winds and currents from the northwest tried to push us further offshore and we lost one whole knot of speed staying on course.
a. long stretches of boredom interspersed with a little terror at the docks (Ken has managed fine without the bow thruster--it is just that Gay freaks out knowing it is not there as a backup);
b. bridges, bridges, bridges, traffic, traffic, traffic but never a moment of boredom!
c. fly home and abandon ship!
Eager to get underway, we chose "a" even though we knew there would be stiff winds and 5-7 foot seas (the forecast for Friday in that area was even worse and we would have had to wait a few more days to go outside or take the ICW on the weekend--neither of those choices was very appealing). It was a rollicking ride with wind averaging in the 20's and gusts up to 30 and seas that often were over 7 feet. Those conditions actually made the trip more boring as it was impossible to do anything but hang around in the cockpit and we met only two or three other boats on the water during the entire trip. Frankly, we all handled the trip with ease. We continue to be pleased with the choice of the Beneteau 393. The Fort Pierce Inlet had to be the easiest inlet we have traveled since getting Patina. Deep and wide, not heavily trafficked. We spent the night in the Pelican Yacht Club and would highly recommend it. The help at the dock was amazing, the yacht club was quite nice with good food, nice pool, great views. There are numerous little shops within walking distance and the Atlantic beaches are only a one mile walk. We decided to stay here an extra day to enjoy the area. It is not yet "southern Florida-ized". The highs today are supposed to be in the mid-seventies (compared to the snow in the Denver).
Patina was encrusted with salt from the top of the dodger to the smallest crevices as we had lots of water crashing on the boat. The dodger, bimini and enclosure kept the cockpit very comfortable. The winds and currents from the northwest tried to push us further offshore and we lost one whole knot of speed staying on course.
I love the magenta line!
When traveling the ICW in Florida, our chart plotter usually has a magenta line that clearly marks the deepest parts of the channel. There are times it disappears! According to the instructions, it disappears when the frequent shoaling makes it impossible to have a consistent channel. At those times, we must use our depth finder to poke along and find our way through ICW. Those are the times Gay makes sure Ken is at the helm--because remember, if you are not touching the wheel when the boat runs aground, it cannot be your fault (since we have not run aground, it appears that Ken does just fine without the magenta line).
Friday, March 12, 2010
Record Rainfall in West Palm Beach
Gay left on Tuesday to attend the Natural Foods Expo (Expo West) in Anaheim California and was lucky enough to get through both the West Palm Beach airport and Atlanta in spite of all the air disruption caused by the severe storms in the southeast. Ken, on the other hand, got to stay in Palm Beach for a record 24 hour rainfall.
Initial diver report is that the boat will need hauled in order to fix the bow thruster; as it appears that the prop was "broken" off in a way that cannot simply be fixed underwater (like it was the last time). Ken will continue to evaluate the options, but is likely to wait to have the boat hauled until it is back in Oriental. Big decision as we have become quite accustomed to the ease of having a bow thruster. Without it, docking will certainly be a little more difficult.
Ken also had a mechanic do the 250 hour service on the engine and was very pleased with the outcome. While Gay is gone Ken will get the boat stocked up and "plan" the next leg of the trip.
On a completely unrelated note:
Gay is having a problem at the Expo covering up the black eye she got one of her first nights on the boat (stumbling to the head in the dark). Between that and a bunch of bruises on her right wrist from the shower seat in the foward head falling on her arm, it almost looks like she is training for triathlon again. Oh wait, she is supposed to be doing that since she signed up for one in August!
Initial diver report is that the boat will need hauled in order to fix the bow thruster; as it appears that the prop was "broken" off in a way that cannot simply be fixed underwater (like it was the last time). Ken will continue to evaluate the options, but is likely to wait to have the boat hauled until it is back in Oriental. Big decision as we have become quite accustomed to the ease of having a bow thruster. Without it, docking will certainly be a little more difficult.
Ken also had a mechanic do the 250 hour service on the engine and was very pleased with the outcome. While Gay is gone Ken will get the boat stocked up and "plan" the next leg of the trip.
On a completely unrelated note:
Monday, March 8, 2010
Sunday, March 7 - Docked in North Palm Beach
Since our last post was from Titusville, I will pick up our route from there. We left Titusville Friday morning and intended to travel about 50 miles. Upon realizing one of Gay's friends, Beth Gitlin, now lived in the Eau Gallie/Melbourne area, we made plans to stop there, so pulled into the Telemar Marina in Eau Gallie in the early afternoon. It was nice to stop midday and fuel up, pump out and shower before dark. Beth and her fiance, Scott Hoffman, were extremely helpful in recommending the marina. They lived a short distance away and walked over to pick us up and take us to their home for drinks before taking us to dinner. What a treat to get to see Beth, meet Scott and spend time with them. They were extremely gracious offering us a place to stay and help with anything we needed. Ken and Scott had great times talking all things sailing (Scott was a Naval Academy Grad), military and science (as Beth and I caught up on them upcoming wedding and our lives since we last met). We had a great seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant. What a treat for us to find that they were available on short notice.
The next day we made our way to Fort Pierce and opted to stay in the city marina. At least with a sailboat our size, it was a mistake. Even though we told them our size when we called to see if they had room, they hailed us on in and shoehorned us into a slip that was too short (which was not as much a problem as the fact that it was too narrow!). The slip was wedgeshaped and our side rails were jammed up against the pilings far ahead of the beamiest part of the boat. The rear pilings allowed us just about 3 inches of space on each side of the boat. There was a lovely restored Morgan next to us and both of us spent a great deal of time making sure we were tied very securely to prevent bumps in the night. The marina (and their help) were obviously geared to power boaters. We would definitely not stay there again. The only bright spot was that the showers/restrooms were some of the cleanest/nicest we had seen on this trip. Of course, nothing compares to our River Dunes!
After getting out of the shoehorn slip, we made our way the last fifty miles of our trip to the North Palm Beach Marina. We passed under numerous bridges. In just the last few miles we had to wait for 5 different bridge openings and spent a great deal of time trying to hang in the current. The power boaters in this last 50 mile stretch were some of the rudest we have encountered--sending huge wakes our way, darting this way and that. We were not surprised to hear that there was a collision in the Jupiter inlet area shortly after we passed through. As we were waiting for the next to last bridge to open, our bow thruster failed. Of course, we are lucky to have one as most boats our size do not, but we missed it when we docked. Actually, docking was easier than Fort Pierce because we had a decently sized slip and the dock hand was a sailor.
We will stay here for a few days to rest up (4 straight days on the ICW was actually tiring), get the bow thruster fixed and plan the next leg of our trip.
The next day we made our way to Fort Pierce and opted to stay in the city marina. At least with a sailboat our size, it was a mistake. Even though we told them our size when we called to see if they had room, they hailed us on in and shoehorned us into a slip that was too short (which was not as much a problem as the fact that it was too narrow!). The slip was wedgeshaped and our side rails were jammed up against the pilings far ahead of the beamiest part of the boat. The rear pilings allowed us just about 3 inches of space on each side of the boat. There was a lovely restored Morgan next to us and both of us spent a great deal of time making sure we were tied very securely to prevent bumps in the night. The marina (and their help) were obviously geared to power boaters. We would definitely not stay there again. The only bright spot was that the showers/restrooms were some of the cleanest/nicest we had seen on this trip. Of course, nothing compares to our River Dunes!
After getting out of the shoehorn slip, we made our way the last fifty miles of our trip to the North Palm Beach Marina. We passed under numerous bridges. In just the last few miles we had to wait for 5 different bridge openings and spent a great deal of time trying to hang in the current. The power boaters in this last 50 mile stretch were some of the rudest we have encountered--sending huge wakes our way, darting this way and that. We were not surprised to hear that there was a collision in the Jupiter inlet area shortly after we passed through. As we were waiting for the next to last bridge to open, our bow thruster failed. Of course, we are lucky to have one as most boats our size do not, but we missed it when we docked. Actually, docking was easier than Fort Pierce because we had a decently sized slip and the dock hand was a sailor.
We will stay here for a few days to rest up (4 straight days on the ICW was actually tiring), get the bow thruster fixed and plan the next leg of our trip.
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Daytona Beach to Titusville, Florida (and rocket launch!)
We left Daytona Beach this morning, Thursday, March 4 around 9:45 am. It was bike week (as in Harley) in Daytona--the news showed "coleslaw wrestling" by women in bathing suits. No internet at the Marina. Time for us to leave!
Although bright and sunny, it was very cold. Recond cold temps all along the ICW it seems. We stayed in the ICW and saw many dolphins (but no manatees even though we passed through many miles of manatee habitat). There was little traffic in this portion of the ICW. ICW had mostly well marked channels over 10 feet in depth, however there were several areas that were shoaled in to under 8 feet. The Indian River above Titusville was the most difficult navigation we faced today as the channel was shallow and not well marked. We passed under several bridges that had to be opened in order for us to pass (as well as fixed bridges that were 65 feet). We were lucky enough to get to our first bridge just as it was opening on schedule (every 20 minutes). The next couple of bridges opened when hailed. But the one bridge that, accordingly to charts, is almost never closed was the final bridge we had to pass under. The NASA train bridge. Just as we lined up in the Indian River after traversing the Haulover Canal, the bridge started to close. No train. People walking on the track. As we "chilled" (by slowing down and zigzaging--but also literally by getting colder and colder), we finally hailed the Coast Guard to find out what was going on. Apparently some problems with the lights on the bridge, but it was opened promptly after we called. We should have called sooner! We were able to see a rocket in the tower at Cape Canaveral.
The municipal marina at Titusville was extremely helpful and professional in helping us get docked around 4:15. After Coronas in the cockpit, Gay cooked dinner on the boat. The tv that we installed before we left Oriental allowed us to see the evening news and to find out that that rocket was launching at about 6:45 and we were able to see the launch from the boat. We felt very lucky as seeing a launch was something we had always wanted to do, but had never done. The inital lift-off lit up the horizon and we were able to watch for about 5 minutes. Gay commented that it was the single best firework she had ever seen!
Our dock mates (on a Hunter named Southern Bell) said that they had been waiting in Titusville for three days to head further south because winds were over 30 knots. They are from Atlanta and keep their boat in Savannah and are on the first leg of a several month trip to explore Florida and the Bahamas.
Although bright and sunny, it was very cold. Recond cold temps all along the ICW it seems. We stayed in the ICW and saw many dolphins (but no manatees even though we passed through many miles of manatee habitat). There was little traffic in this portion of the ICW. ICW had mostly well marked channels over 10 feet in depth, however there were several areas that were shoaled in to under 8 feet. The Indian River above Titusville was the most difficult navigation we faced today as the channel was shallow and not well marked. We passed under several bridges that had to be opened in order for us to pass (as well as fixed bridges that were 65 feet). We were lucky enough to get to our first bridge just as it was opening on schedule (every 20 minutes). The next couple of bridges opened when hailed. But the one bridge that, accordingly to charts, is almost never closed was the final bridge we had to pass under. The NASA train bridge. Just as we lined up in the Indian River after traversing the Haulover Canal, the bridge started to close. No train. People walking on the track. As we "chilled" (by slowing down and zigzaging--but also literally by getting colder and colder), we finally hailed the Coast Guard to find out what was going on. Apparently some problems with the lights on the bridge, but it was opened promptly after we called. We should have called sooner! We were able to see a rocket in the tower at Cape Canaveral.
The municipal marina at Titusville was extremely helpful and professional in helping us get docked around 4:15. After Coronas in the cockpit, Gay cooked dinner on the boat. The tv that we installed before we left Oriental allowed us to see the evening news and to find out that that rocket was launching at about 6:45 and we were able to see the launch from the boat. We felt very lucky as seeing a launch was something we had always wanted to do, but had never done. The inital lift-off lit up the horizon and we were able to watch for about 5 minutes. Gay commented that it was the single best firework she had ever seen!
Our dock mates (on a Hunter named Southern Bell) said that they had been waiting in Titusville for three days to head further south because winds were over 30 knots. They are from Atlanta and keep their boat in Savannah and are on the first leg of a several month trip to explore Florida and the Bahamas.
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