Never a dull moment!

I forgot to mention an incident that happened enroute between Vero Beach and Cocoa. Either I was to tired when we arrived at St. Augustine or just overjoyed to be at a dock.

About an hour from anchoring at Cocoa one of our monitor alarms went off. We have an alarm for high water, explosive fumes and fire in the engine room. I could hear the alarm from the cockpit and figured it was the fumes alarm which is very sensitive and sometimes goes off if there is a buildup of fumes from the diesel. If that happens I just vent the bilge and it goes off. When I came down below and looked at the monitor it was the engine room fire alarm sounding. Talk about something that will age you 10 years in a heartbeat. I immediately looked through the little access hole into the engine room, this is where you would blast the fire extinguisher into, to see if there were flames or smoke. There were neither. The alarm goes off based on heat. I opened the port engine room door and it was hot in there. I could see that one of the connections on the back of the alternator was sparking and the rubber cover had melted on the top. Also I checked the battery monitor and it showed that the alternator was charging at over 15 volts. It should have been under 14.3 and more like 13.25 since we had been motoring for awhile. I felt the batteries and they were still cool. We lowered the RPM on the engine and I vented the engine room to try to keep it cooler. Once we arrived at Cocoa and anchored I telephoned the Balmar company to get some assistance. I talked to Rick Jones who I had known to have assisted other Island Packet owners in the past. He walked me through how to do some tests to try to determine if the problem was with the alternator or the regulator. We determined it was the alternator so I started checking it out. I was checking the wiring and connections to it. I found one connection that was a little loose but not significantly. The connection that was sparking looked as though it had some corrosion on it so I disconnected the four wires from it and sure enough all of them had some corrosion. The corrosion makes for a very bad connection and the output electricity didn't have anyplace to go. I used sandpaper to clean them off with a little WD40 to break up the rust. Once cleaned I put it all back together and ran some tests checking for proper output to the batteries. Everything looked good, no sparking and the proper charging. The next day on the way to our next anchorage I checked it about every half hour to make sure all was well. So, lesson learned, keep your connections clean.

Each day when we start out I say to Sandy, "What challenges will we face today?" Her response, "If you don't say that maybe we won't have any". Yeah right, this is a boat. Bring On Another Thousand!!

Now in St. Augustine

We departed Vero Beach, some cruisers call it Velcro Beach because it is hard to leave, on Tuesday. We didn't have any problem getting out into the ICW channel. We were planning on stopping at Melbourne but had some good current with us so we went all the way to Cocoa. The anchorage there was large and there were plenty of boats that stayed there for the night. The wind was really blowing but our trusty SuperMax anchor held us in place.

On Wednesday we had planned to stop at Daytona Beach but we didn't like the anchorage and the decided to go on to New Smyrna Beach. When we passed by the area on the ICW where the Ponce inlet is there was a lot of shoaling and we scraped bottom in just 4 feet 9 inches of water. Our boat draws about 4 feet 10 inches. Cruisers just call that dense water and plow through. We were able to get through it and into deeper water OK. We stopped for the night in a small creek named Rockhouse Creek just to the north of New Smyrna Beach. There were already 5 boats in the small anchorage and 3 more came in after us. The anchorage was very quiet and we had a beautiful sunset. We also had about 5 dolphins frolicking around the boat. Two of them looked as if they were putting on a show for us, jumping out of the water together and slapping their tails.

We were up at 6AM preparing to leave for St. Augustine. We raised anchor at 7:15 and departed. We had several bascule bridges that we had to have open for us on this leg. One particular bridge was having work done on it and we had to wait for about 3o minutes. The area to loiter was very small and it got shallow real fast as you got near shore. Two other sailboats came up behind us and that made things even crazier with all three of us waiting. Just past this bridge we saw 3 manatees. The only other manatees we had seen was the previous day in a small cove off of Haulover canal.

We had thought about anchoring in the Matanzas River where there is an old fort to visit but that area was terribly shoaled in. There were several new green buoys set out to guide us around the shoaling. The markers took us to about 100 feet from the western shore. The depth got down to about 5 feet 6 inches in the area we went over. It may have been a little deeper closer to shore but it was difficult wanting to go that close. Once we passed the Matanzas inlet we had a 1.5 knot current pushing us north. We were doing about 8.5 knots. We covered the last 15 miles to St. Augustine in less than 2 hours. Earlier in the day we had a 1.2 knot current against us and were only able to go 5.8 knots.

We are in a slip at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina and will be staying for a few days. There is so much history here and things to do. St. Augustine is the oldest permanently inhabited city in the U. S.

More experiences

We arrived in North Lake Worth around 6 PM on Tuesday. The anchorage is very large and open so we didn't have any problem finding a place to anchor. On Wednesday we were able to dinghy into a spot up a small creek by a bridge with a small beach to land the dinghy. Once up on the road it was a short walk to the Publix grocery store and some other shops in a strip mall. The anchorage was so nice we decided to stay for a few nights.

We left North Lake Worth on Friday and headed for Vero Beach. We didn't have as many bridges to contend with so our progress was pretty good. There were 4 bridges that opened on a schedule and 4 that opened on demand. We were averaging around 7 knots most of the way. At times we would be down to 5 or up to 8 depending on the current coming in or going out at the different inlets we would pass. We stopped overnight in Ft. Pierce and anchored to the south of Causeway Island. The wind was from the south and the anchorage was open so it was kind of choppy until the sun went down and the wind died down. There were about 7 other boats anchored there also.

On Saturday we awoke at 6 AM and prepared to make the run the final 17 miles to Vero Beach. This part of the ICW is made up of the Indian River and is quite wide, however the ICW channel is only about 100 feet wide at most points. In the channel the depths are anywhere from 9-16 feet. Just outside the channel the depths can be 4 feet or less. Our draft is around 5 feet so we definitely have to stay in the channel. There were lots of local power boats out and it seemed that they were racing to the Ft. Pierce inlet to see who could get out to catch the first fish. Only a few would slow down when they pass. The others go by with big wakes that cause us slow sailboats to rock and roll with the wakes.

We arrived at Vero Beach in about 2 1/2 hours. To get into the marina you have to go under a 65 foot bridge and then immediately turn into the marina channel. Right as we went under the bridge my Garmin chartplotter gave me an error message about losing satellite connection. That and a marina welcome sign diverted my attention from the channel and the south wind and current swept me right into the shoaling. Yep, hard aground. We tried for about 20 minutes to try and back off with no luck. I called TowBoatUS to come pull us off. They were there in about 30 minutes and pulled us right out of the mud. The TowBoatUS guy told us that if we would have grounded about 50 feet further to the east we would have been on some rocks instead of in the mud. Once in the marina we picked up a mooring and had a drink. Later when I was talking to the marina staff they told me that they call that corner Gold Mine Corner. I guess we weren't the first or be the last to ground there. And to top off all of that we were boarded by the Florida State Fish and Game officers to check our sewer system to make sure we aren't pumping anything overboard. I am actually surprised it took this long for us to get boarded. We have been in Florida waters for almost two months now.

Today we walked to the actual Beach. It is a very long beautiful sand beach. Not crowded at all. It was a vero pretty beach

We are staying here until Tuesday when we will leave to head further north.

Stay on the path boss there's gorillas in the woods!

You captain Ron fans will remember that line. Well, there aren't any gorillas or guerrillas that I know of anyway but there are some big freakin' lizards in the trees. No Name harbor is located in the Bill Baggs state park. When we walk to the grocery store we take a path thru the woods. These big iguanas hang in the trees and scurry around on the ground. Just makes you shiver.

We took a walk over to the park beach. It is listed in the guidebook as one of the United States top 10 beaches. If this beach is one of the top 10 this country is in big trouble. There was litter everywhere. The sand was mixed with tons of plastic bits from plastic cups, plastic utensils and just a lot of junk. We couldn't walk on it in our bare feet because it hurt and we were afraid of cutting ourselves. Very sad.

Well, we finally left No Name harbor and sailed 31 miles north to the Port Everglades inlet. That is located at Fort Lauderdale. The winds were east to southeast from 13-21 knots. It started out very rough with seas in the 3-5 feet range and them came down to the 2-4 range. Very uncomfortable but not dangerous. The seas were mostly from the starboard side to the starboard aft quarter. At one point a rouge wave hit us on the starboard side and sent water crashing into the cockpit. It was a lucky thing that I had the enclosure panel down that was right next to the helm or I would have gotten soaked. The Port Everglades inlet was extremely rough with confused seas. Sandy was the helms person on the way in and she had a very difficult time keeping the boat on a straight course. Being a Saturday there was a lot of local boat traffic and the wakes from them make things worse. Once inside the ICW was calm and we had to wait for a bascule bridge to open for us to go north on the ICW and into Lake Sylvia. We are staying here today, Sunday, and will head out for Palm Beach and Lake Worth on Monday. We will most likely take the ICW because the weather is still crappy. The bad thing about doing the ICW from here to there is that there are 20 bascule bridges we have to have opened for us. They open on a schedule but you have to be there at the right time or wait up to 30 minutes. Once past Palm Beach the number of bridges is drastically reduced.

Still in No Name Harbor

The weather has been terrible this past week. It has poured rain and the wind has been in the upper 20's with gusts in the 30's. We had planned to leave this past Monday and started out. The weather forecast for that day had looked pretty good but it wasn't as forecast when we got out into the ocean. We saw lightning and the wind was 25 right in our faces. After getting our butts kicked by 5-7 foot waves we retreated back into No Name. There is no shame in retreating. It is now looking like we will be able to leave this Saturday.

During the week this place is a serene little anchorage. On the weekends it is party harbor with a whole lot of million dollar power boats coming in. Loud music and lots of noise. I have never seen so many blond Cuban woman in all my life.

Here are a couple of photos of the harbor during the week. There are 13 sailboats here and one power trawler. Most of the boats are waiting ot go north. At least one is waiting to cross to the Bahamas. They have been waiting for a couple of weeks now. This same boat was in Marathon when we were. A couple of the other boats were in Marathon too and have been here since we got here.

Heading North

Well, East first, but you get the idea. We left Marathon and Boot Key Harbor on Thursday. We left at 7:15 AM so we could arrive at Rodriquez Key while it was still daylight. The wind was blowing from the southeast between 20 and 25 knots with the seas running about 5-7 feet. We had to motor right into the seas to get out of the harbor and around some shoaling and into Hawke Channel. Since we hadn't been out for three weeks we did get a little queasy but not to the throwing up point. It wind was forecast to ease by midday and it did. By the time we were passing 5 mile bridge the wind was down to 15 and the seas were about 3 feet. That are is also more protected by the reef to the south. We had a nice sail with full sail from that point to Rodriquez key. we traveled 54 miles.

We woke early Friday morning and headed out for Key Biscayne and No Name Harbor. There were several other boats anchored at Rodriquez also. It seemed everyone left at the same time and it was like a convoy going north. The winds had started out from the southeast around 15 and then shifted to the south around 8. The first part was a good sail but after the winds shifted we were doing some more rocky-rolly. We motored for awhile and arrived at No Name Harbor around 3:00. We traveled 44 miles. During the trip we saw about 50 huge power yachts and big open fishing yachts heading south. It must have been the exitice from Miami. Don't know where everyone was going but they were probable going about 30 knots so they could make it all the way to Key West in about 5 hours. They would blow right between several of the sail boats and we would all go rocking. They didn't care.

Not sure why they call this place No Name Harbor. For having no name it sure is crowded. I see a couple of boats that were in Marathon but rest may be Miami weekenders. There is barely enough room to swing and the wind is going to shift tonight. Should get interesting.

Dinghy piloting styles

Our mooring is just off the channel leading to the marina and dinghy landing area. All of the people that go into the marina from the west side of the mooring field have to pass right by our boat. Being retired and all, we have a lot of time on our hands to just sit and watch them. This retirement gig is pretty neat, you all should give it a try. Mostly we just sit around all day on our fat asses and talk about what's for dinner. The conversation mostly goes like this: "what ya want for dinner tonight? I don't know what do you want? I don't know babe what do you want?" and that continues for a good hour, but I digress.

Anyhoo, the dinghys all drive by us. Most people sit on the side towards the rear of the tube in an inflatable or on a seat in a hard dinghy and handle the tiller from there. If there significant other is onboard they either sit in the front on the tube or seat. That is what we do when we go dinghy. Now there are a surprisingly number of individuals, couples or families that have a unique style. There is the Navy Seal secret mission style where they lay completely down in the dinghy floor with only there head showing. I actually saw a family of four doing this one. Dad, mom and two little kids all flat in the bottom. Then there is the Chariots of Fire style where the person stands up towards the front of the dinghy and uses an extension handle to steer. One couple had everyone beat with this style. They were both standing in the front of the dinghy cruising along with there chins held high, Looky us, looky us!! I can't wait to see a nice wave come by and knock them overboard. And of course there is the Look ma, no hands style. That is where they lock the engine so it won't turn, set the tension on the throttle and let it go. I actually saw a man that had combined the Chariots of Fire style and the Look ma, no hands style. He was standing in the front of the dinghy with no control of the outboard motor. He was steering by using his weight to go either left or right. Damn if he wasn't doing a good job at it also. I can just see him in the water and the dinghy heading for never, never land. And last, but not least there is doggie style. No, not that doggie style. You wouldn't believe how many boats have dogs on them. Some have multiple dogs. When the dogs are in the dinghy's they point the way. They are always standing in the bow or hanging over the bow to catch everything that is coming their way.

Well, so much for observations at the mooring field. Honey, what do you want for dinner tonight?