Palmetto FL to Vero Beach FL 4/25 - 5/7

Wednesday April 25th: At 4:50 pm we boarded a jet blue flight to Tampa, loaded with bags for our cruise and lists of things to do before leaving.  We are picking up the NEW raft tomorrow and a new battery for the big epirb from Solution One. John Tarling from Landing Supply in Yarmouth ME is shipping Garmin weather station, and 3 small epirbs.  The flight arrived early in Tampa, bumpy flight but smooth landing; picked up car and headed to Regatta Point.  It was good to get on board.  We decide to have a cocktail at the bar before crashing, it was 9pm and the doors were locked but a big party was going on and we got in.  One drink and that was enough then back to very messy boat that we will tackle in the am.

Thursday April 26th. Our schedule and plans for the day was not exactly successful. The life raft had not been delivered to solution one, it would be in later in the day.  The garmin weather station arrived, but the 3 small ACR epirbs did not. Ted, systems installer arrived and went over the auto pilot and collected a large sum of money from me.  Brad did not arrive, he said he will be over around 10:30am the next day. We went to bank, farm stand, wallmart and publix and liquor store. The raft arrived in Tampa and we went to pick it up and took the large epirb.  They were going to check the battery, but said it would take three days, never mind. So we headed back to boat with new raft and old eprib. Carl came by and asked to come to his boat to give us some advice on our route.  It was good information with good recommendations. 

Friday April 27th: After much cleaning, researching, and testing the electronics we were ready to go.  But no, had to wait for the epribs to arrive.  So we got the boat ready to leave, Bob readied the lines for an easy departure, but the wind changed and messed up his plans.  Margaret stopped by to say goodbye. The epribs arrived around 1pm and we got off the dock around 2:15pm.  As we were departing Brad was phoning us from the dock, he was a little late. we talked for a bit and goodbye....

The auto pilot had to be set up with a series of circles, zig zags and straight line sailing to tune it to our boat. While testing, the low battery signal kept going off with message low voltage to the GHC.  Our destination was Jewfish Key anchorage. The tide was high and the current was pushing us down the ICW.  We did have to wait for the bridges to open but we arrived at our destination only to find it full. Anchoring was awkward with the current and wind pushing us around.  After two attempts we were successfully anchored.  Bob called Ted around 6:30pm to discuss the low voltage issue.  The stove was not working because the inverter was not turned on.  The way points did not convert to the chart plotter from the computer, so Bob had to do them all over again.  He was also trying to copy the data to a card and then to the Garmin.  

Now were are hearing strange noises in the area of the forward head. I think it is time to go to bed.

Sat April 28th: Beautiful morning, nice sunrise somewhat covered with haze, makes for a nice effect.  Checked oil, need to read about the filters, and researched inverter.  Also, Bob is changing the power to the auto pilot to see if the voltage improves. 

A couple came over in dinghy to chat about our boat and the Cabo Rico design.  They also had a 38' CR but are now doing 3 month cruises in a 30' Pearson. After a few cat stories  and other adventures they headed off to breakfast in Cortez. Bob resumed working the auto pilot power issue. 

Bob discovered that the nme 2000 steps the voltage down to no more than 12volts so it doesn't  fluctuate. The alarm was re-set and all was good after changing out power cable and removing the aft cabin ceiling to verify the power locations. He did get a little pissy during this whole exercise. Although he thought we wasted a lot of time, I think it was a good learning experience and he was now confident that his and Ted’s wiring is correct.   ;-}

Bob installed the Sirius XM weather satellite before leaving Jewfish key and I called to register and sign up for a year subscription.

We left our mooring about 10:15am and headed to the longboat key bridge for an opening on request.  That went well, but we did hit some very skinny water and bumped our way to the opening. I too video of dolphins that played at the bow on the way out, it was beautiful.  I commented on what a great way to start our trip and then we ran aground, oops must stay left in the channel, lots of shoaling. Just a little reverse and we were off the sand bar and headed  out to deeper water.  whew, I could just see us stuck there waiting for high tide and making a spectacle of ourselves on a busy Saturday morning for all the boaters, swimmers and dolphins.  

As we headed south XM activated the radio signal for weather satellite. That all went successfully and none too soon. We saw storm cells approaching from all around us. So we battened down the hatches, triple reefed the sails and prepared for the worst. And we got it. 20 to 30kt wind at 60 degrees off the bow on a port tack, rain thunderstorms and  6’ to 8’ seas, with much higher swells,  all night and into the next day. A little bird flew out of the storm and landed on our railing.  The poor thing was all tuckered out. He made us his safe haven hopping inside the cockpit onto the helm and then into the cabin. We were running 6 to 8 kts and had to back off the jib a bit.  Since we were traveling overnight our shits started at 8pm and went every three hours.  Bob did not sleep much the first shift as he was tending to some issues below, dumping aft head, closing valves, looking for fresh water leak, and getting queasy. He came back on deck and dropped onto cushion and rested for a bit. then decided to try and sleep. When he took over his shift at 11pm I tried to sleep in the aft cabin, it was not a good idea, too much noise as the sails were winched in, let out  and tweaked.

Sunday April 29th: I came up for 2am shift with no sleep and Bob decided to sleep on deck. We were still experiencing rough seas, with short periods making moving about the boat almost impossible. After awhile you got the hang of keeping the heading on track.  At 5am we were still blasting along but the XM system still showed weather in Keys was getting worse with active cells.  So we had to make a decision about going into Marco.  At first we decided to continue but as we thought about it we did not want to arrive in Key West at midnight in a storm and not having knowledge of the area. We then tried to make a heading to Marco Island which put us against the current and heading into 25 to 30 knot winds and 6 to 8’ choppy seas. At this point we were 30 miles out and after 3 hours we got to 19 miles out and not making any more headway. At times we were at 0 knots. We made a starboard tack for about 5 miles and realized we were still not getting anywhere, no forward progress, so made a port tack and made a slow 10 miles going south, we actually got 3 miles closer to Marco, but still not able to get in. We decided to head back north and take what we could get even if it meant heading into Ft Myers.  After 20 miles heading north the storm weakened and we decided to make the 22 mile run back to Marco.  During this time we blew out a staysail clew (that the master sail maker Jimmy had repaired) and snapped the roller furler line to the jib and bent the self tailing arm on the aft wench. 

Bob had to go up on bow ( clipped in) to tie off the line to the jib furler.  Later he went up and rolled and tied the flapping staysail.  I was not happy about that because of the large swells and boat rocking and rolling. With slow progress we made headway to Marco. We arrived at Factory Bay anchorage about 7pm with enough daylight left to anchor and pick up a bit and crash. We called Sandy and  Bill and told them we would see them the next morning. 

Monday April 30; After of twelve hours of sleep we got up and made breakfast, took down stay sail, cut the jib furler line, called Sandy and Bill to meet us at the Factory Bay Marina. We loaded up the dinghy with sail,wet clothes, lines, drybags, and trash. It was windy and choppy so it was a bit of a slog. It was free tie up at the dock and the Millers were there to help us unload.  We piled into their NEW truck and went to West Marine, the canvas shop, and then to their house for laundry, shower and an early dinner. The canvas shop will have the sail ready for tomorrow. Though we requested 115' of line we got 85" based on the recommendation from  Master West Marine employee Otis. hmmmm

The rest of the afternoon was spend relaxing at the Millers, catching up on email, cleaning, cocktails and a very nice lamb chop meal.  It was raining on and off most of the day but warm and pleasant.  Upon our return to the boat, it was raining of course,  and I didn’t want to get all my nice clean laundry wet again. I drapped the orange plastic paunchos over the clothes bag and carefully made our way back to the boat. We hoisted all on board just before a big downpour.  All is dry inside.  We cleaned up a bit, put stuff away and Bob ran the line to the jib furler, and guess what, it was too short, so we put it on the stay sail furler, since that line was bad also. Tomorrow we will have to get another line. Tomorrow will be another busy day.

Tuesday May 1, 2012; It was good to sleep in a bit till about 7:30am ;-} To start the day we had some coffee and tea and began the clean up.  Lots of wet stuff to dry out.  The canvas shop called and said our sail was ready, good news, Sandy and Bill took us to canvas shop, West Marine, Ace Hardware and then to lunch at the beach.  We had a great time and enjoyed their hospitality.  They returned us to the marina just another storm was approaching.  I was going to wait but was encouraged to head off on the dinghy anyway.  Yes, it started to rain as we headed out but I made good use of the 20hp motor and got us there before the downpour.   Although we wanted to head out right away we still had to put up the nicely repaired staysail, run the jib furler line, (now the correct length) and try to change the frayed lines on the jib. The wind proved to be too much to attempt to change the lines so we aborted and made our way out of harbor at 7pm and headed towards Key West with brisk winds and heavy seas. The first watch was mine starting at 8pm, Bob stayed on deck and slept on and off until his watch at 11pm. We were under sail all the way, triple reef main, double reef staysail and triple reef jib.  

Wednesday May 2nd: The 2am watch was more of same, high winds, big swells, and enough spray to get us into full foul weather gear. It was somewhat uncomfortable, too hot, then chilled etc. Through the 5am watch and a beautiful sunrise, Bob brought us almost to the Key West entrance.  We arrived  around noon and it took us about 11/2 hour to get to the city marina.  There was lots of activity in the harbor, power, sail, cats, ninjas on jet skis, etc.  There were two anchorages near Tank island and Wisteria island that were loaded with boats.  

Not knowing if that was a good place to anchor we went on to the city marina that looked like an elephant grave yard; the place boats go to die and provide a resting area for birds. 

We grabbed a mooring with help from what looked to be a permanent resident in his dinghy.   His help was much appreciated since grabbing one of those moorings would have been near impossible for me. We were supposed to dinghy in and get our permit but took showers and headed to bed instead. 

Thurs May 3, 2012: After a much needed good night sleep we checked on were to get fuel. We were told we had to wait for a large ship to finish fueling, but we could go on the inside.  When we arrived there the inside slip was not an option and found an alternative location with an empty dock just waiting for us.  Bob maneuvered in, brought the bow around so we would be facing out.  We filled up water and fuel.  The key West drinking water leaves a lot to be desired. And, you could not wash down boat because water was scarce in the keys. Too bad since the the boat was covered in slippery and crusty salt. 

Our exit from the dock was flawless, good job Bob.  Our departure from Key West was eventful, the inlet was very lumpy with waves crashing over the bow.  We decided to cut to the inside channel, hawks channel, per Bob's original plan.  

After getting out of the junk it was a nice ride along the coast.  We could not set sails, the wind was out of the east as expected but reduced to 15-20kts.

Our destination was Boot Island in Marathon key.  The stalkers (Sandy and Bill Miller) advised us that they were driving to Marathon and would see us there.  We thought we would arrive around 7pm but it took longer because of our late start and increasing wave action.   We were going along about 6kts in fairly good seas dragging the dinghy behind us.  We were actually surprised it made through the rough seas and stormy weather.  

The Millers could track our slow progress as they crossed the bridge on there way to and from the dolphin research center where they had a special tour by one of their former tenants. Bill calculated that they were going 13 times faster than us.  Really??

We finally arrived just as it was getting dark at 8:20pm and anchored (two attempts) off Boot Key.  We let Sandy and Bill know we would see them in the morning. After getting settled we fixed a cocktail and headed to the bow with our blue cushions and relaxed and watched the night set in.  It was very nice way to end the day.

Friday May 4:

Bob was up early to change out the jib lines. This required him to pop into the boatswains chair and get winched up the forward stay. We used the collar for the asymmetrical MPS sail to guide him up.  After practice tying a bowline, up he went and successfuly changed over each line and return to the deck safely.  I tried to winch him down so it was sort of a smooth ride. With that done we jumped into the dinghy and headed into the marina area.  It was good thing that we did not try to go in there with the boat last night, it was way too tight and there were no apparent moorings in the area indicated by the cruising guide. In fact there didn’t look like there were any facilities at the end of the channel at all.  We checked out the other dock areas, and the trailers lining the canals.  It was quaint, tight, interesting, different etc.  We tied up at the Marathon Marina and walked across Rt One to the Seven Mile Grill for breakfast.  Bob did not bring shoes so we had to find an outdoor place for him, and fortunately the only restaurant available had and outdoor patio. As the waitress was taking our order the Millers called and it did not please the waitress, who was very outspoken.  She like Bob though.  The Millers drove right by us so we called and got them back on track and they joined us.  They gave us a ride back to marina, however the boat was gone, it had been moved to make way for a sailboat coming in.   We took pictures, got ice, said our goodbyes again to Sandy & Bill and returned to our anchorage.  Since we had  been on a starvation diet for potential sea sickness, real food did challenged the system. 

Our departure from the anchorage was at bout 10am to allow time to reach Biscayne bay, Miami at daybreak.  The day was warm and sunny with 15kt winds out of the east, with 3' swells.  We motored most of the day and spoke with Ted, John, and Garmin about the auto pilot.  At the end of the day we shut down to do some daily maintenance and we discovered the problem with the autopilot.  It appears that Ted may not have properly secured a cotter pin when installing the rudder sensor arm since it was just hanging around doing nothing. Sooooo Bob cleverly improvised, with tie wraps and a ring lock. However that was after must angst, and comments about organizational skills, when I could not find cotter pins on board, after tearing apart the boat yet again!!!!!  At that point  I had some angst also.   I think we were getting tired, hmmmm  By the way the tie wraps were in their proper place.   AND GUESS WHAT the auto pilot works great, just like it is supposed to. So we used it for a while and we headed into night time sailing. We actually raised the sails after passing Mosquito island. We ran windward  60 degrees off all night. 

Saturday May 5

We passed Biscayne Bay around 3am and at daybreak we were watching the sunrise on our starboard and downtown Miami to Port. 

As the day unfolded there was lots of small and large fishing boats, and tankers heading into Miami. It worked out well since the tankers started heading in before we got to them.  The seas started building and the wind changed and we attempted to keep the sails on a 120degree reach. This was not as effective as we had hoped and jibbed to adjust to the change of wind direction.  Each wave would roll us and it was hard to keep the wind in the sail.  The dinghy was  consistently in danger of swamping as the following and confused seas were breaking right over the back of the dinghy.  We headed in towards shore to minimize the swells and to pump the water out of the dinghy.  We took the sails down and motored along the shore line so Bob could get some sleep.  However, as I tried to stay in close it appeared I had to go around the tankers that were anchored and ended up back in deeper water.  It got too rough for Bob and he appeared in the doorway and checked our the situation.  It was not so good.  But he got us back in towards shore and pumped out the dinghy again.  The cargo in one of the tankers was full of luxury yachts, it was a very strange site.  We continued on towards Ft Pierce in a zig zag approach.  I tried to sleep but was not too successful.  I went back up for my watch and Bob made some dinner, hot dogs, potatoes and broccoli.  It was hot and good.  Bob headed to the aft cabin and I tried to give him a smooth ride.  Bob came back on watch at midnight and I stayed on deck since we were close to Ft Pierce.  The cruising guide advised that the inlet could get sloppy if the tide and wind were against each other, and guess what the tide was ripping out as the wind and waves were pushing in.  I let Bob take over to navigate the channel, it was tricky and stressful. We were looking at the tides and currents but is was not local and we got caught in a mess.  We did make it through to the anchorage area and found it full.  We anchored twice trying to find a good spot and ended up where we started, very close to the channel but at least in enough water. At this point we were both very tired and a bit edgey so we headed for bed at 3:30am.

Sunday May 6.  We got up about 7:30am to prep for the trip up river to Vero Beach.  Bob made breakfast and we sat in the cockpit with coffee and tea and observed the fellow boaters as they made their way through the bridge opening.  We had two fixed bridges to navigate after going through the first bridge opening.  The trip up the ICW was calm going with the incoming tide.  

This turned out to be almost a problem since the fixed bridges had 64 1/2 feet clearance (they were stated as 65’ in the book) and it was a super moon so the tides were higher than expected.  We creeped under the first bridge and the vessel in front of us radioed back that they watched us with binoculars because they didn’t think we were going to make it.  They stated we had about three inches to spare.  This did not make us feel any better because we had another bridge to get under that was supposed to be 66 feet.  NOT!  64 1/2 clearance again.  It is not a good idea to do this at high tide. But,we made it and motored into the Vero Beach City Marina and tied up at the dock.  Took on fuel and water, rinsed off the boat and then moved to mooring 28 which would be the final resting place for about three weeks.  We contacted my aunt and uncle Peg and Herb Repass and said we would touch base later in the day since we needed to clean up.  We showered on the boat, sort got our stuff in order, then took a fun dinghy ride around the area.  There are lots of mangroves that create winding canals.  We checked out the homes along the waterways and then cleaned up and called Peg and Herb. They came over with my cousin Jay to pick us up.  They wanted to see the boat but it was too far away.  We had pizza with the family, I took a shower there prior to dinner. Jay and Bob talked about a real estate transaction and bringing a car down to Stuart FL.  This would work for us as we want to bring the dingy back to NH and could use his truck to take it back.  Good deal all around. Jay returned us to the boat and we crashed hard, it was a goodnight sleep, finally. 

Monday May 7.  It was nice to get up, have breakfast and not need to rush around.  We brought our suitcases to the dockmaster for safekeeping.  Then we took the dinghy to Peg and Herbs.  It was much quicker than expected.  I guess the 20hp does go a bit faster than the deisel.  We hung out a bit, put the dinghy on the lift, helped Herb take cushions out of his boat, had lunch and Bob worked on Peggy’s computer to help her download some files.  

Peggy drove us to the car rental place in a torrential down pour.  She has a lead foot, no flies on her.  We made it safely, picked up the car and went back to the marina for our suitcases and headed off to Orlando. En route to the airport we encountered horrible weather, thunder, lightening, driving rain and wind, what a nightmare.  Start out in bad weather and end in bad weather, hmmm.  Returned the car at the airport, went to our hotel, had a nice meal, and slept till about 4am and made the 6am flight to Boston with time to spare.