New York City, Carnegie Hall - 12-15 Mar

 

      We're off for New York City to see our granddaughter, Ella, play at Carnegie Hall with her high school band.  It was a rainy drive to the airport and after we boarded we had to sit for a couple hours waiting for weather to clear over Jacksonville, but we were eventually on our way. 

   Here in the Big Apple, and its cold, especially since we just came from Florida, not Yorktown. Our hotel is just a couple blocks from Penn Station.

   We're staying at the Yotel near Time Square. Its a modern, automated hotel concept with small rooms, but all the room and amenities that you need. It was very clean and completely acceptable.

   The great feature of New York City is you can find small shops and eateries that meet any desire that you have. We saw a kebab place just around the corner and stopped there for dinner. It was a Turkish place with several different Mediterranean dishes. I thought the prices were a little high (although it is Manhattan) until I saw how much food we got. Since we hadn't eaten breakfast and you get no food on the plane, we were ready for a big meal.

   The next day we were going to try to meet with Ella, who's school group were touring Rockefeller Center and the "Top or the Rock", so after waking up and watching the Today show on TV from our hotel bed, we then walked over to Rockefeller Center and watched them broadcasting the show from the sidewalk. 

   When we got to the Top of the Rock, there was Ella and her friends. 

   It was cold down at street level and really freezing in the 30 mph winds at the top of the building. We didn't spend much time outside.

   It was pretty neat seeing the sights you normally only see on TV like the skating rink at Rockefeller Center. 

   We then had all afternoon to sightsee before being at Ella's concert that night at 8pm. We decided to walk down to the 9/11 Ground Zero. Last time we were in NYC in 2003 there was still a smoldering hole there. Today the new World Trade Center tower has been built and there are memorial pools at the bases of the old twin towers. It is very respectfully redone.

   Did I say it was cold?  Yes, it was cold, snowing and blowing. I had packed my winter raincoat from Brussels and at the last minute threw in my gloves and ear muffs. Good move!

  Sue meanwhile, had only packed a thin raincoat. Fortunately she had been knitting hats along the trip and brought one of them with her. Good move!

   Now we know why we live in Virginia and go to Florida for the winter. 

   For dinner we had decided to eat at a Japanese hibachi restaurant. We didn't realize we would have our own brazier to cook on. What a great choice, enabling us to warm back up. 

    Here we are at Carnegie Hall waiting for the concert to start. What a great experience for Ella and her friends.

   What a great concert. All the different high school bands, orchestras and choirs were outstanding (which is why they are invited to Carnegie Hall). 

   All too soon it was time to pack up and head to the airport the next day, but still time to walk to Time Square and get an authentic New York hotdog.  It was expensive, but actually a very good hotdog. The spicy onions were the secret ingredient. 

And then, we were winging our way back to sunny and warm Florida. We waved goodbye to Ms Liberty as we passed by. 

Daytona 10-12 Mar

 

   We're in Daytona, Halifax Marina for a week. The boat will stay here while we fly off to New York City for a couple days.

   While we're in the marina we have several boat chores to take care of. First was a good fresh water washdown above decks. 

   Now we have to unload all the supplies from the back cabin (the storeroom) so we can get out our suitcases which also have our New York winter clothes in them. While unloaded, I can check the engine transmission and shaft and make sure all is okay.

   Its time for a oil change after over a couple hundred hours of motoring all the way down from the Chesapeake to Marathon and back up to Daytona. The oil looked in good shape. I'll wait till the next change back in Yorktown to change the filter.

   All has been going well mechanically on this trip after our experiences last year having to repair the transmission and heat exchanger. So far, all is good.

   In the marina is a good place to re-oil the anchor chain after all the saltwater anchoring we have been doing. We pull all 200ft of chain out and spray it down with WD40. It does a good job of stopping the rust and protecting the chain. It also helps to enable the chain to slide down into the chain locker by itself and not require Sue to go into the locker and pull it down.

   While getting our chores done, there is still time for a daily morning walk across the bridge to the ocean side.

   I'm sure Rivah likes the long walks and a chance to get off the boat. She definitely would rather relieve herself ashore with all the opportunities and smells and not on the rocking bow of the boat. 

New Smyrna 8-9 Mar

   Back to New Smyrna and visiting with Tara and Carol. We went for a long walk along the Ponce Inlet trail where there are tortoises and other desert fauna and flora. Another great day - March in Florida.

 

   We were able to watch another Starlink launch from New Smyrna. Not as impressive as watching from Titusville, but still pretty neat. 

  After a short visit it was time to move up to Daytona where we will leave the boat for a week and fly up to New York City. 

   Heading through the G Musson bridge northbound. It's a only a couple hours from here to Daytona even by boat. 

Cocoa - Titusville - New Smyrna 5-7 Mar

   Next stop up from Eau Gallie is one of our favorite stops, Cocoa Village. The weather was great for a comfortable stop in the anchorage. Cocoa has a public dock with room for several boats but it was full when we arrived so we just anchored. 

   At Cocoa there is no separate sidewalk over the bridge so we do a daily walk out to WaWa for coffee and whatever the free special is. 

And then, there is the Dirty Oar and the Bugnutty breweries to visit.

 

   It was a full moon while we were anchored at Cocoa so Sue tried some unique photo shots of our "expanded" anchor light. 

   Next stop up the ICW is Titusville but first you have to pass through the NASA causeway bridge. They are putting in a new 65ft bridge so this opening bridge will hopefully be gone next trip south.

   Titusville has the Playalinda brewery and the Pier 220 restaurant. We anchor well offshore at Titusville but within sight of the Pier 220 docks. 

   Titusville also has a great long bridge to walk over .

  Carol and Tara drove down to Titusville to have a beer and dinner with us at Pier 220. Its a full day by boat up to New Smyrna which means less than an hour drive for them.

   The next day we are off for New Smyrna. Just north of Titusville you cut over from the Indian River through the Haulover Canal to the Mosquito Lagoon. As we passed through the Haulover Canal we first saw several manatees at the public boat launch. Then up at the bridge there were 4 manatees playing in the canal. We had to carefully pass by them. 

   Just south of New Smyrna are the "Fish Camps", large RV and cabin sites where hundreds of snowbirds come to camp and fish. This is always a busy area. 

   By afternoon, we are anchored back at New Smyrna for a few days before we have to move on to Daytona. The weather has been great, March is more comfortable and less windy than January, and the crew are happy boaters. 

Eau Gallie, FL 3-4 Mar

   We have read about Eau Gallie, just up from Melbourne, but have never stopped here before. With the winds blowing from the south, there is a protected anchorage area just north of the bridge so we pulled in to check it out.

   The big draw for cruisers is the restaurant Squid Lips which is where the dinghy dock is for coming in from the anchorage area. It was a busy place with live music which fortunately stopped around 10pm each evening. We passed on stopping by but got to listen to the music on our boat each evening.

   More to our taste was the Intracoastal Brewery with its excellent beergarten layout. This was clearly popular with the locals as it was nearly full. But, still room for a couple more and their dog. 

   Sitting at the community picnic tables we met an interesting family, he was from Germany and his wife from Nigeria. He is working as a software engineer in Eau Gallie.

   Along with the great atmosphere and interesting clientele, the beer was excellent. This is a place we will plan on returning to.

   There were many interesting sites in Eau Gallie. Sue noticed this handpump that pumps up seawater to the fish cleaning station on the town dock where we parked our dinghy.

   One of the many murals we noticed on our walks about town. This was on one of walls of the city library. 

   I think Rivah enjoyed the long walks we were able to make at Eau Gallie across the 3 mile bridge over the Indian River. Here she is lounging and giving herself a good back rub.

   After a full day exploring Eau Gallie, it was time to hit the ICW northward again. We need to be in Daytona by the 11th. 

Miami - Fort Pierce 2 Mar

 

   Sunrise and we are underway for Fort Pierce. The main channel at Miami was closed with 3 cruise ships in port so traffic takes the route via the cargo ship channel. Only a slight delay.

   It is going to be a motor sail trip to Fort Pierce. The winds are calm this morning but will pick up from the south in the afternoon, just as it has done most every day.

   Southbound, this is a 24hr trip but we are northbound and can ride the Gulf Stream for most of the trip. We hope to make it to Fort Pierce about sunset time.

   Out into the Gulf Stream off Miami, you only need to get a couple miles offshore to pick up the current. 

   A patch of sargasso weed off Miami. We didnt see any more than normal this trip. 

   Seas are relatively calm for this transit. The crew is very happy.

   Definitely in the Gulf Stream now, making 11.4kts over the ground. Pretty good for a sailboat that has a maximum sailing speed of 7.2kts. That's a boost of 4.2kts from the Stream, about the max current you see. 

  Here's an interesting hitchhiker. I wonder how these guys make there way onboard. We have seen these small crabs a couple times. I wonder if they crawl up the anchor chain. People talk about finding snakes in their anchor locker so I guess it's not that uncommon.

   Eventually you have to cut out of the Gulf Stream and head back towards the shore. Another sunset at sea. We are a few hours from Fort Pierce, will arrive in the dark about 8pm but, it is a straight and deep inlet with no difficulties. Much better than the Florida Channel by Key Biscayne.

   We made our way into Fort Pierce and found a good anchorage spot just inside the inlet and spent a quiet night.

Tomorrow we are off up the ICW northbound.

Miami , again - 1 Mar

       We are back in Miami again for one night then we have a weather window to transit offshore north to Fort Pierce tomorrow, which means we can avoid all the bridges and crazy boaters on the ICW north of Miami. We left our anchorage off Key Biscayne this morning and are motoring back over to the anchorage off South Beach.

   Anchored back off South Beach and out for a walk this lovely morning. Here's a normal site walking around South Beach along with the egrets.

   Walking along the shore we spotted this large manatee cruising down the shoreline and through and under the docks. We followed him at a slow walking speed for quite awhile, with lots of photos.

   It turned out our return on 1 Mar was very fortunate because that was Wednesday movie night at the outdoor South Beach movie park. We got to watch the The Warrior Queen on the big screen.

   Even more fortunate, our sailing friends from Stuart were now in Miami waiting for a weather window to move on to the Bahamas. 

   Its a dinghy parade down the canal back to our anchored boats. The life of a cruiser, traveling by dinghy rather than car. Fortunately the weather was very cooperative.

Back to Miami 28 Feb - 1 Mar

 

   Early morning and we are off for the return trip to Miami. This will be another motoring trip as there is almost no wind today. That's an unusual occurrence in these easterly trade wind islands and we are taking advantage of the no wind to motor back to Miami.

   You can tell we are traveling up the Gulf Stream by the blueness of the water and the presence of Man-o-War jellyfish sailing over the water.

   Yep, definitely in the Gulf Stream as you can see our speed over ground is 10.1kts. It takes 2 days to get down to Marathon at our normal sailing speed of 6kts but, less than one day to get back making nearly twice that speed. Our ETA back to the Florida Channel at Key Biscayne is about 2000, just after dark. But it is a wide channel and well marked and one we have passed through several times so we will come in after dark.

   Another sunset following a smooth motoring trip up from Marathon. We are just a few hours out from Key Biscayne.

   Well, we are safely anchored off of Key Biscayne and it looks to be a quiet night. The entrance through the Florida Channel turned out to be not as comfortable as we had anticipated. I didn't realize that most of the channel markers are not lighted so we had to rely almost completely on following our chartplotter, like flying on instruments only. We could see the markers - as we passed them - illuminated with our spot light, but they are too widely spaced to be able to determine how to head to the next ones without the chartplotter.  But the modern chartplotter electronics and GPS and radar make these difficult passages quite feasible these days as long as nothing goes wrong. We were safely anchored by 10pm and spent a restful night.