Titusville 16-21 Feb

 

   On the move southward, departed New Smyrna and heading for Titusville. Its a bit blustery with 15kts of wind off the port bow and we are taking spray onto the dodger, but all dry and warm inside the cockpit. Temps have finally gone up to the 60s and 70s and nights are in the 50s, so quite comfortable finally. Florida weather.

   The only downside to Titusville is that the anchorage area on the north of the bridge (for winds from the south) is way out near the middle of the Indian River outside the Titusville mooring field. The mooring field is just about as far offshore so there is little advantage to picking up a mooring. Just as easy to anchor and pay the $6 dinghy landing fee for use of the showers and laundry which is exactly what we did.

   Fortunately by the 19th the wind had come around to the northeast so we moved over to the south side of the bridge. Here you can get much closer to shore and behind the causeway so much better protection from the waves.   We stayed here for the next few days even as the wind came around to the southeast, but not so strong, as we now had a prime spot to watch the upcoming SpaceX launch.

   The launch finally went Monday morning and we had a prime viewing spot. Didn't get any great photos as we were both watching with binoculars. Lots of flames from the rocket and a short stretch of contrail that Sue photo'd.  We finally got to watch a launch from the Titusville area (we had 2 cancelations last Spring) and were able to hear the roar. Couldn't quite see the boosters come back down even with binoculars, need to watch on TV to observe that.

   The sea breeze would come up each afternoon in Titusville with winds to 18kts and 1-2ft waves which made for a wet dinghy ride into shore, but each night the wind went down to near zero. The bridge over to the Cape Canaveral seashore park is quite pretty each evening. We walked the bridge each day getting in 8-10 miles a day and one long walk of 14 miles. The weather was perfect our whole visit.

 

 Our favorite spot in Titusville is the Playalinda Brewery. Last year we really liked their grapefruit IPA, but it was not available this year. This year's favorite was the Java Mocha Mint Stout (in the smaller glass). Sue also loved ordering the Nitro Stout just to watch the foamy head dissipate from the bottom of the glass up. She has a couple videos on her phone she will show you.

 

   It's a little over 4hrs by boat from New Smyrna to Titusville but only about 25 minutes by car. So Carol and Tara and their visiting friends Mario and Marguerita drove down to visit us at Playalinda. Other than me spilling a full beer over everyone, we had a great visit.

   After watching the rocket launch Monday morning we went on our long hike over to the lagoon on the other side of the bridge where locals had told us the alligators live. Sure enough, we saw 3 recent trails across the path where alligators had crossed from a canal to the open water side. We could see the foot prints and the muddy trail left by the swaying tail across the white sandy trail.

   Back on the city side just down the road from Playalinda where a city drainage creek runs into the river we saw a small alligator sunning himself on the creek bank. He was still there a couple hours later as we passed back on our return to the marina. 

  After getting pretty wet the first time we dinghied to the marina through the main bridge opening we learned to pass through the low opening near shore. That only left us with a short couple hundred yards of open water into the waves returning to the boat. Going slow we kept relatively dry.

   Warm Florida weather is finally here and Rivah is enjoying the sun along with the rest of us. 

  Next stop is Cocoa Village but we will probably have to anchor on the east side of the river because of the wind. There is no sidewalk across the Cocoa bridge so no hiking across the bridge each day. 

New Smyrna Beach - 11-15 Feb

    

   We had an easy transit down the ICW from St Augustine to New Smyrna. As you arrive from the north you get a great view of the Ponce de Leon Inlet lighthouse.

   We found a great spot to anchor just off the town dock. New Smyrna doesn't allow overnight docking at their town dock any more but you can land your dinghy there - except for the Saturday we arrived as there was a wedding going on and we guess they didn't want the riff-raff dinghies spoiling the view. We found a spot to tie up down the shore at the fishing pier.

   Sunday was Super Bowl and we were hosted by our good friends Carol and Tara. It was a solid 8 hours of eating and drinking and the food was superb. Good thing Sue and I have been walking 5-8miles a day for the last month and have our metabolism rates up.

   

   

 Over the weekend I opened my computer to update my finance data as we have to calculate and pay our taxes on line this Spring, but it failed to start up. We headed to the local repair shop who were able to successfully load up Windows but recommended that I upgrade to a new solid state hard drive, so we decided to say in town a couple more days and enjoy the company and great weather. It has finally warmed up here in Florida, at least out of the 40s.

   This photo is from the bridge just south of the anchorage. There is a great 4 mile walk across the bridge to the oceanside and back across the northern bridge.  Just what we needed to work off Super Bowl meals.

   Tuesday was a great day to go walk the beach along the Ponce de Leon inlet with Carol and Tara.

   The dogs had a great time on the beach as well. This is Rivah along with her friend Piper.

   We had a great visit with friends at New Smyrna but it was soon time to push on further south. The weather wasn't as bad as it looks although it was quite breezy and we had one good shower. But a few hours later we were down to Titusville and ready to stop and check out our favorite brewery (at least favorite for Titusville). Think we will wait for the wind to die down a bit before heading to shore.

St Augustine 9-10 Feb

    After a full day transit down the ICW, we picked up a mooring ball at St Augustine and it was 5pm, time for a beer and relaxing. 

   With a couple hours before dark, we got the dinghy in the water and fired up, ready for a trip to shore.

   Turned out our nephew, Jonathan, who lives in St Augustine was out at a downtown pub with his wife and son, celebrating her birthday. We had time to meet them at the pub for a short visit.

    We hadn't seen their son since he was just born and he is now going on 3 and "all-boy". As typical, he's focusing on a video game and explaining to Sue how you play.

   The next day they we all able to come out to the boat and visit.

   Boys always want to steer and Crew is no exception.

   He discovered the winch cover made a perfect hat.

   If you're going to be a crew member you have to learn the lines and winches. He's showing off his "gecko muscles" hauling in the staysail sheet.

 Soon it was time for our guests to dinghy back to shore. They were treated to a great sunset over the St Augustine lighthouse.

Underway Again - Finally, St Augustine 9 Feb

    After 4 weeks in Fernandina Beach, where we actually had a very good time in spite of the cold weather, we are finally underway again heading south. Yesterday was cold and rainy so we stayed one more day at the dock, but today's forecast was for sunny skies and light winds, so at 0630 we were throwing off the dock lines and heading out over the creek mudbar a couple hours before dead low tide.

   By 1000, the sun was finally up high enough to burn off the low lying fogs and vapors and clear our plexiglass enclosure and start warming us up. By noon it was a balmy 72degrees inside the enclosure - about 59 outside.

    

   After a full day transit without incident (the best kind) we arrived in St Augustine and went straight to a mooring ball. When we asked for our ball assignment it turned out we are on Ball #1, the first one in the mooring field closest to the marina. It was a short dinghy ride and we were soon all checked in and ready to hit the town for pizza. First  a quick photo session. That's Tides Inn on her mooring ball behind Sue and Rivah and the St Augustine Lion's Bridge way in the background.

   Tomorrow we'll do some more sightseeing and grab some more photos.

Great to be travelling southward again. Now if we just get the temperatures up a bit more out of the 50s.

More Maintenance - 5 Feb

   There's always something to be worked on and one task always leads to another on a boat.

   Today we decided we would wash off the new anchor chain with fresh water while we were at the dock and wash out the bilge which had collected a lot of dirt and sand from the water coming over the bow departing from Georgetown. After getting all the chain out and washing the anchor locker and bilge we discovered the hawse pipe that directs the chain from the windlass to the chain locker had come unconnected (it has done it twice before over the last 20 years.)

   This is a job that Sue has to do because she is the only one of us that fits way up inside the chain locker all the way to the peak of the bow. She has to lay on the secondary anchor line to port, and work with her arms fully extended over her head. There are 3 screws that hold the collar screwed to the deck and you have to get them properly lined up while maneuvering the collar with its attached PVC pipe and elbow into the right position over the shelf. It is a real bear of a job and all I can do is hand her screws and screwdriver and offer encouragement. What a trouper. She is the best First Mate ever.

   My task today was to clean the speedometer which was heavily plugged with sea growth from our 3 weeks sitting here at the dock. I hate to see what the overall bottom looks like. We'll need a good bottom cleaning once we get further south into warmer waters.

Transmission Fixed - 4 Feb

   Happy Days, the new rebuilt transmission is back, installed and checked out. The rebuild shop had to adapt available parts from current transmissions to reconfigure my older 2002 transmission, since key 2002 parts are no longer available. They eliminated the "torque limiter" which is what had failed, and then had to fabricate a spacer to install between the transmission and the shaft where the old torque limiter used to sit, so that it would properly connect to my shaft and not affect the distance between the prop and keel. 

    After the transmission was reinstalled, there were 3 things that I had to attend to: first, I had to realign the engine and shaft mainly because the engine had settled some from when I replaced the engine mounts last summer. Fortunately I had just enough adjustment range on the rear two engine mounts. Second, I had to adjust the shifting cable attachment you can see in the photo on the right. A spacer had slipped out of position where the cable is clamped on and it was allowing the cable to jam (which would have prevented us from shifting when underway).  And third, after we went on a short test run, I noted oil slowly dripping under the trans. Upon inspection, it turned out the drain plug had never been tightened. Good thing I discovered that before we got underway south and all the oil drained out of our newly rebuilt transmission.  

   We can now continue our journey south and hopefully on to the Bahamas, however we realized that we have paid for a month of berthing in Fernandina so why not take advantage of the warm weather and do some more exploring. We walked out to Fort Clinch today and Sue was able to collect shells on the inlet beach. 

   Next day was a walk into town for transmission oil and fresh fruits and of course a stop at the Amilia Island Brewing Company. Had a terrific coffee stout. May have to go back and pick up a growler of that. 

   We'll stay here a couple more days then push on south. Our next commitment is Super Bowl party at Tara and Carol's.

Fernandina Beach

    Tomorrow we enter our 4th week here at Fernandina awaiting our transmission repairs. It has been chilly here a few days as the cold fronts blow through, but at least we are in Florida and have missed the two snowstorms that have passed through Yorktown. We are moored in a fairly protected creek and have shorepower so we have heat that keeps the boat comfortable as long as outside temps are above 40deg. We have only had 2 nights when it dropped below that and we have the electric blanket to sleep under so are quite toasty. We've only had 2 days of rain in the 3 weeks where we had to stay onboard, otherwise we walk Rivah each morning, then walk to town most days. We also have walked through Fort Clinch park a couple times.

   Most days the sun has been out and the enclosed cockpit warms up into the 60s so its comfortable with a sweatshirt on. Rivah moves around to ensure she is laying in the sun.

   Just up the street from our dock is the house that was used in the movie Pippy Longstocking, where Pippy used to sit in the attic cupola and watch for ships to arrive. This house sits over the Amelia River with a good view of the ships coming into the harbor. It was recently purchased and restored and now is valued at over $1M. 

   Downtown is very well maintained and restored, probably the best we have seen along the East Coast. If it wasn't for the two large paper mill and cellulose mills that pollute the air downwind, it would be fully ideal. But we have found our favorite coffee shop with free wifi and craft brewery with fantastic pizza and hamburgers. Yesterday we found the Fish Shak that had superb food at reasonable prices. We are going to be sad to depart.

   Yesterday we walked down to the Amelia Lighthouse, which turns out to be the most western lighthouse on the East Coast (because Florida bends in so far up here on the FL/GA border). 

   Today we walked on past the lighthouse to Fort Clinch park and out to the beach, then around the entire north end of the island back to our boat on the NW tip. Altogether a 12.5 mile walk. We are certainly getting our exercise in while we sit and wait for repairs her.

   It's no problem walking 5 miles to town for a coffee or beer, but we are not walking that far to do the laundry. That still gets done onboard in a 3gal bucket. With all that walking we go through shirts, socks and underwear every day.

   So we been stranded here for over 3 weeks now, but aren't complaining. Its been cool, but no snow. Meanwhile the Bahamas have had the same 3 cold fronts blow through with dangerously strong winds so we are grateful we haven't gotten there yet. Hopefully Feb and Mar weather will be milder there. Looks like we will be getting out of here later this week and back on our trek south towards Miami. Fingers crossed - but happy to hang out here for awhile.

Transmission Repairs - Fernandina Beach - 13 Jan - ???

    So it is now 1 Feb and we are still sitting in Fernandina Beach waiting for our transmission repairs, but enjoying our visit. This is a nice old town to break down in. The boatyard is located about 2.5 miles from downtown and 4 miles from Publix so there is lots of opportunity to get some walking in. While waiting for our transmission to be rebuilt, we walk to town most every day. We are now averaging 8-12 miles a day of walking and have lost a bit of weight even though we have checked out most of the local breweries and restaurants.

   The problem with engine repairs on a boat is that we are fully stocked with 4 months of food, drinks and snacks for our stay in the Bahamas. All those stores have to be taken out of the aft cabin (where engine and transmission access is) and stored in the main cabin. So our normal close quarters on the boat are now about half their normal size. The photo is only the beginning of moving items. We now have 4 large crates and 4 smaller crates of stores piled up in the salon, along with the engine covers.

   The transmission is now out and sent off to Wisconsin for rebuilding. That took a week to get to this point. It turns out that this 2002 transmission is not built anymore (so cant get a replacement unit) and spare parts are not built anymore (so cant get the local mechanic to repair it). Ultimately, we had to ship the unit to Wisconsin where it could be expeditiously rebuilt by an expert using parts from newer models. He provided us great service and advice and rebuilt it in one day. The folks in Ft Lauderdale told us 1-2 months for them to do it as they had 20 units ahead of us to fix.  As on 1 Feb, we now have the rebuilt transmission back and are waiting on the mechanic to reinstall it, hopefully tomorrow. However, the new configuration is not quite as long as the former one so we are not sure the shaft will still fit properly with the protective zinc we have installed, so a diver is supposed to come tomorrow and replace our zinc with a smaller one that will ensure the shaft fits properly.  We'll update the blog when all is fixed and we are underway again, hopefully later this week.

Georgetown - Fernandina Beach, FL 11-13 Jan

 

   The thing about cruising on a boat is you are always encountering the unexpected. One has to have the temperament to accept these surprises as part of  experiencing life.  It also helps to be well prepared for the unforeseen.

   With that introduction - we headed out to sea from Georgetown, SC on the 11th, heading for St Mary's Inlet along the GA/FL border. It was a brisk, sunny morning with a north wind that would push us down the coast towards Florida's warmer weather and waters. We had the current behind us as we motored down the river making good speed. All was looking fine for a quick offshore transit, hopefully better than last year when the wind as just too far to the west to allow us to sail or comfortably motor without bashing into the waves.

   But first, we had to get out the inlet into the ocean where we could turn to the south and run downwind.  As we made the last turn to the east and headed out through the breakwaters, the waves began to grow as the Northeast winds blew against the outgoing tidal current. Soon the waves were up to 8-10ft with steep faces and we were bashing through with solid water occasionally coming over the bow (Sue got a couple good videos). The good news was that the current was taking us out at over 10kts so it was only about 45 mins that we had to endure the uncomfortable conditions. 

   Our trusty Tides Inn plowed through the turbulent seas and we were soon clear of the breakwaters and free to turn south. The problem with downwind sailing though is the rolling from side to side in the 3-4ft seas spills wind out of the headsail so we motorsailed along with double reefed main. With the wind dead astern we have to rig a preventer line that holds the boom out to the side and prevents it from swinging across and breaking something as the boat rolls. Sue is responsible for running the line through the block amidships then back to the cockpit.  As the wind shifted over the next 36hrs, we had to move this preventer over to the starboard side, then back to port hours later. It was chilly outside the cockpit but comfortable within the enclosed cockpit. All seems easier when the sun is shining bright. 

   I won't say the passage was comfortable, with all the downwind rolling side to side, but it was a better ride than our last time down the ocean. The wind and waves stayed consistent and we motorsailed along at over 6kts making good time southward. We would arrive at the St Mary's inlet before dark the next day. 

Except for the unexpected....

   I had just laid down in the cockpit about 3am to take a short nap while Sue sat at the helm, when a terrible screeching noise came from below. We quickly shut down the engine and did a safety check - all okay below and no water entering the boat - but we had no propulsion. As we were later to confirm, our transmission had failed and we had no motoring ability 

  But we were still a sailboat, so we sailed to the St Mary's inlet over the next 14hrs, arriving just as the sun began to set. We called Towboat to tow us into the inlet (again between rock jetties with 15-20kts of wind now on the beam and 3ft seas) and around the corner to the marina repair yard. That all proceeded smoothly, although the rocks looked awfully close and scary in the dark along the way in, but soon we were securely moored at the marina awaiting the mechanic the next morning. Another ocean adventure with a safe ending.