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
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
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).
Well that’s about it for the day in St Augustine. The journey continues tomorrow.
Location: St Augustine, FL. MM778
Day 24 - Nov 19, 2013
After a blustery night, the wind and current had us pinned firmly to the dock. Getting underway about 0745 hrs required some help from the marina staff to push the bow out as I used engine, transmission and rudder action to clear the dock. That same current now became an asset as we proceeded south.
Once we cleared Kingsley Creek we rolled out the jib. The combined engine, tidal current, and northerly winds gave us great speeds. We saw speeds of 10.4 mph as we passed the B.B. McCormick bridge. Our timing with the tidal currents the remainder of the day was nothing short of phenomenal. We never had opposing current until we turned the corner to enter the St Augustine channel where we rolled in the jib.
We took a mooring ball at the St Augustine Municipal Marina. We must have doing something right this day. With 17+ wind and chop, Donna took the helm and guided us slowly toward the buoy. I was able to grab the mooring pendant and attach our lines on the first attempt. Boy, what a feeling of relief washes over you when you are securely tied to the ball. The wind and wave action just seem to fade into the background and become inconsequential. Whew! Secure at 1645 hrs. What a day!
Tomorrow we will visit the city.
Location: St Augustine
Distance Traveled: 62.2 miles
Avg Speed: 7.6 mph
Max Speed: 10.6 mph
After a blustery night, the wind and current had us pinned firmly to the dock. Getting underway about 0745 hrs required some help from the marina staff to push the bow out as I used engine, transmission and rudder action to clear the dock. That same current now became an asset as we proceeded south.
Once we cleared Kingsley Creek we rolled out the jib. The combined engine, tidal current, and northerly winds gave us great speeds. We saw speeds of 10.4 mph as we passed the B.B. McCormick bridge. Our timing with the tidal currents the remainder of the day was nothing short of phenomenal. We never had opposing current until we turned the corner to enter the St Augustine channel where we rolled in the jib.
We took a mooring ball at the St Augustine Municipal Marina. We must have doing something right this day. With 17+ wind and chop, Donna took the helm and guided us slowly toward the buoy. I was able to grab the mooring pendant and attach our lines on the first attempt. Boy, what a feeling of relief washes over you when you are securely tied to the ball. The wind and wave action just seem to fade into the background and become inconsequential. Whew! Secure at 1645 hrs. What a day!
Tomorrow we will visit the city.
Wednesday Morning. What a difference!
Location: St Augustine
Distance Traveled: 62.2 miles
Avg Speed: 7.6 mph
Max Speed: 10.6 mph
Day 23 - Nov 18, 2013
Beginning to sound like a broken record…FOG. Up at 0530, checked conditions outside the boat, found dense fog so I climbed back in the bunk and went back to sleep. I awoke when something bumped the boat around 0700. I got up and checked outside and found the newspaper and two muffins had been delivered to the cockpit. A quick brew of coffee and breakfast was served.
By the time we finished the muffins, the fog was beginning to thin out a little so we started getting ready to depart. We got underway about 0830 and headed for the dreaded Jekyll Creek. We arrived at the creek just a little after high tide so passage was not as stressful as anticipated. Skinny water at G19 would have been extremely difficult to negotiate had it been low tide.
Leaving the creek we headed out into Jekyll and St Andrews Sounds. St Andrews was kind to us today. Current was going out and the wind was from the NW so the wave action was minimal. When we reached the turn for the Cumberland River we began a long fight against the current rushing toward the ocean. We did not pickup favorable current until we neared the Kings Bay Navy Base. We did see two of the wild horses on the island.
Approaching Kings Bay, we started getting a few showers and increased wind from the SW. The weather forecast was now calling for 20+ mph winds tonight so we decided to forgo anchoring off Cumberland Island. It’s a nice anchorage in settled conditions, but is totally exposed in all directions. We continued on in hopes of getting a mooring ball at Fernandina.
The showers increased in intensity and the wind piped up considerably. A phone call revealed there were no mooring balls left at Fernandina so we took a slip because of the predicted weather. We're finally in FL.
Location: Fernandina, FL. MM 717
Distance Traveled: 42 miles
Avg Speed: 6.2 mph
Max Speed: 9.0 mph
Beginning to sound like a broken record…FOG. Up at 0530, checked conditions outside the boat, found dense fog so I climbed back in the bunk and went back to sleep. I awoke when something bumped the boat around 0700. I got up and checked outside and found the newspaper and two muffins had been delivered to the cockpit. A quick brew of coffee and breakfast was served.
By the time we finished the muffins, the fog was beginning to thin out a little so we started getting ready to depart. We got underway about 0830 and headed for the dreaded Jekyll Creek. We arrived at the creek just a little after high tide so passage was not as stressful as anticipated. Skinny water at G19 would have been extremely difficult to negotiate had it been low tide.
Leaving the creek we headed out into Jekyll and St Andrews Sounds. St Andrews was kind to us today. Current was going out and the wind was from the NW so the wave action was minimal. When we reached the turn for the Cumberland River we began a long fight against the current rushing toward the ocean. We did not pickup favorable current until we neared the Kings Bay Navy Base. We did see two of the wild horses on the island.
Approaching Kings Bay, we started getting a few showers and increased wind from the SW. The weather forecast was now calling for 20+ mph winds tonight so we decided to forgo anchoring off Cumberland Island. It’s a nice anchorage in settled conditions, but is totally exposed in all directions. We continued on in hopes of getting a mooring ball at Fernandina.
The showers increased in intensity and the wind piped up considerably. A phone call revealed there were no mooring balls left at Fernandina so we took a slip because of the predicted weather. We're finally in FL.
Location: Fernandina, FL. MM 717
Distance Traveled: 42 miles
Avg Speed: 6.2 mph
Max Speed: 9.0 mph
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