Stuart - Nov 26, 2013

Well, if you have been following along and read yesterday's post, you know we are now in Stuart, FL. We are attached to mooring ball #19 and are enjoying a quiet morning aboard. The weather hasn't been especially welcoming. We have had on and off showers all morning. The sun is finally peeking through as we sit, sipping coffee and listening to the Coffeehouse channel on the Sirius radio.

I tried to get some sunrise photos this AM, but it wasn't to be. Here are some shots of our temporary home. We'll be unwinding and settling in for a while so more entries and photos will probably be on a less frequent basis.

DnD

Day 30 - Nov 25, 2013
It was a long night of listening to the wind howl and waves slapping against the stern of the boat. Donna and I were awake when the alarm clock went off at 0530. I made coffee and began looking at all the weather forecasts on the web. Mostly they agreed and the consensus wasn’t good. Winds were blowing from the east at 18 with gusts to 28 and were forecast to increase as the day progressed. The outlook for the next three days also looked like repeats.

After finishing two cups of coffee, I went topside and surveyed the situation, trying to see if there was a way we could safely get out of the slip. The boat was bow-in in a very large fixed pier slip. The wind was channeled down between two buildings and was hitting the boat almost dead on the stern. The channeled wind was almost constant at 25+ miles per hour. There was no way we were backing out of the slip without damaging the boat or the dinghy.

After about an hour of theorizing how it could be done, I replaced several dock lines about the boat with longer lines and ran the starboard aft spring line to the starboard winch. Back inside the boat, Donna and I discussed the possibility of leaving and the forecast weather for the next week. We decided that leaving today looked like the best option so we started making preparations.

It took about half and hour to extricate the boat from the slip. Working slowly and methodically, we winched the boat out to the outboard pilings, removed the lines and were able to back out without damaging the dinghy/davits or the boat. By 0945 we were headed back to the ICW.

After entering the ICW, we moved along past Vero Beach and headed toward Fort Pierce. I rolled the jib out to about 90% and our motoring speed increased. As we moved along it became a rough, wet and dreary day. Very low gray clouds and rain squalls kept rolling in from the east. Winds in the squalls increased to as high as 32. We did see sunshine twice for a few seconds and a rainbow. After passing Fort Pierce, the squalls became a little stronger and more frequent which forced us to reduce sail.

We reached the intersection of the ICW and the St Lucie River around 1500 hrs. We turned up river and found the usually shallow channel had evidently been dredged recently. A couple more rain showers occurred during the slow motoring cruise up the river to the last opening bridge of this trip. The bridge tender was very timely and we passed through and were adjacent to the mooring field that is to be our home for a while.

We picked up mooring ball #19 here at Sunset Bay Marina and ended this leg of our journey at 1625 hrs. Tired, safe and securely tied to the mooring ball, we breathed a great sigh of relief and declared it time for Happy Hour.

Location: Sunset Bay Mooring Field, Stuart, FL. MM 996
Distance traveled: 47 miles
Avg speed: 6.5 mph
Max speed: 8.8 mph

Total distance traveled since 10/27/13: 1049.2 statute miles.

Day 29 - Nov 24, 2013
We holed up here at the Loggerhead Vero Beach Marina to escape the predicted gale force winds last night, today and tonight. As of daybreak, the wind has not materialized. Temperature this morning was 70 and winds were less than 15, but they were out of the north. This is a medium sized marina surrounded by a condo complex. One little east/west channel out to the river. It's like being in a walled moat. We are feeling the boat heal every once in a while, but I don't think the winds outside the facility are up to gale force yet. More like 15-20.

It was nice and sunny by mid morning, however as the day progressed, clouds rolled in from the north and the wind increased to over 25. By 1300 hrs, there were rain showers rolling through and the wind shifted to the northeast and increased. Gusts were well over 30. We spent the afternoon, cleaning up the boat, doing laundry, taking on domestic water, getting fuel, and taking showers. As I write this, we are being heeled by the wind gusts. We’re trying to watch a little TV, but the digital signal keeps going out. Looks like we will have a sleepless evening if the wind does not lay down.

Actually, if the wind doesn’t lay down a little, we will have a tough time getting out of the slip and out into the river tomorrow morning. Oh well, nothing we can do about it. We’ll just have to see what the morning has in store for us. Good Night All.

Location: Vero Beach

Day 28 - Nov 23, 2013
Well, we finally did it. Up at 0530, coffee, yogurt and breakfast bar and we were leaving the mooring field at 0645 hrs. Today’s planned destination is Melbourne where we usually anchor.

The sky is only partly cloudy and we can see the sun peeking through the clouds on the horizon. Looking like a good day. We manage to get in some motor sailing with the jib.

Around noon, we were approaching our destination when we checked the weather forecast. NWS has now issued a small craft advisory and a gale wind warning. The coming cold front looks like it might pack a wallop. Anchoring in Melbourne was now out of the picture. We continued on as lots of daylight was left.

I selected a couple of potential marinas for the evening and continued southward. We motor sailed on and off as direction of travel and wind direction allowed. As we approached the location of the last marina on my list, we made the decision to shoot for Vero Beach, another 30 miles away.

It was a squeaker, but we manage to arrive at the Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach about 20 minutes before sundown. Only one drawback, we timed our arrival with the swarming of the no-see-ums. Ouch!

We did a quick securing of the boat and equipment and then jumped down into the cabin to escape the bugs. We now had a new problem…80+ degree heat in the boat. Time to break out the electric fans.

Location: Vero Beach, FL. MM 949
Distance Traveled: 71 miles
Avg speed: 6.8 mph
Max speed: 7.7 mph

Day 27 - Nov 22, 2013
How is it we get up at 0530 and still can’t get underway before 0730. Another slow starting overcast day. We leave the marina and head south toward Ponce Inlet. Friday sure brings out the boating traffic. River is a busy with lots of fishing and power boats.

Tide coming in Ponce inlet keeps out speed down until we pass the inlet and then we get a boost. Past Ponce, we enter the Mosquito Lagoon. It’s a long, pretty boring stretch, but we do get to do a little motor sailing. We reach the haul over canal and enter the Indian River and motor sail some more. Winds are up a little and we move at a pretty good clip crossing the river. When we turn south we eventually lose the wind and it’s back to motoring.

I am beat, so when we approach Titusville, I contact the marina and secure us a mooring ball for the evening. We pick up the ball, secure the boat and call it a cruising day at 1500 hrs. I prepared the boat for a quick start in the morning while Donna prepared the all important happy hour accoutrements.
Later after dinner, Donna watched some TV and yours truly dosed off.

Location Titusville, FL
Distance Traveled: 48 miles
Avg speed: 6.3 mph
Max speed: 8.2 mph.

Day 26 - Nov 21, 2013

The weather guessers got it wrong again. It was supposed to start off overcast with a small chance of showers mid morning, another small chance mid afternoon, clearing and sunny by around 4PM. Well it started off overcast, started raining and got worse from there. The one good thing I could say was at least it wasn’t cold. Oh, wait, that’s coming on Sunday.

Not much to tell about the day. We did see what looked like an incident of texting while boating. A sailboat just ahead of us was all over the channel and really hugged some of the marks very close. He was headed to the green side and appeared to be getting close to a mark. Next thing I know the boat hits the mark. It was a glancing blow, but I’m sure the helmsman never even saw the mark. Later the same guy was headed outside the channel so I gave him a couple of blasts on the air horn. That got his attention and he corrected course. I think he was either falling asleep or texting on his phone.

As we neared Daytona, the rain intensity increased and visibility dropped. Thankfully, we had decided to stop for the day. We pulled into Halifax Harbor and got drowned while docking. So much for clearing and sunny.

Oh Crap! We just had a bat fly into and around and around in the cabin. Donna was going berserk! We kept ducking and it finally flew back out the companionway. I think it’s time to close the boat up.

Location: Halifax Harbor, Daytona, FL. MM 832
Distance Traveled: 54.2 miles
Avg Speed: 6.9 mph
Max Speed: 9.2 mph

Day 25 - Nov 20, 2013

Don’t you hate it when the alarm clock goes off because you forgot to turn it off on the day when you can sleep in. Well that’s what happened at 0530 hrs, but we did go back to sleep for a couple of hours and then got up. Amazingly, the winds had died down to 5-6 mph and things were overcast, but still nice and relatively warm. It was going to be T-shirt and shorts kind of day. Yea.

We had time for a nice breakfast of eggs, bacon, bagel and coffee. Then things got busy. First is was the pumpout boat coming by to empty the holding tank, then it was getting ready to go ashore. The free water taxi to shore showed up promptly at 1000 hrs and we were ashore in in another 10 minutes.

We visited the tourista shops and walked some of the historic areas.

Light showers settled in, but we decided not to let them ruin the day. Next, we walked about a half mile to the San Sebastian Winery where we took the tour and participated in their wine tasting. Nothing exciting, but it was interesting. On the way back to the marina, we stopped in at Pizza Alley for a garbage pizza and a couple of brews. We called it a late lunch. (That means no need for dinner).

Back at the marina we waited in the boaters lounge and chatted with other cruisers until time to catch the water taxi. Really gloomy skies all around on the way back to the boat. Hope this mess blows out overnight.

Well that’s about it for the day in St Augustine. The journey continues tomorrow.

Location: St Augustine, FL. MM778