Vero Beach FL to Port Lucaya Bahama 12/23/12 - 12/30/2012

VERO BEACH to Port Lucaya Bahamas 12/23/2012 - 12/30/2012

Sunday 12/23/2012:  We arrived in Orlando and picked up the worst rental car ever; a chevy spark.  What is it you ask, well it looks like a three wheeler, a sawed off car, a tin can, a death trap, the smallest thing on the road.  A stupid excuse for a car.

Ok, let it go, move on.

After leaving the boat at the city marina for a week we had to provision and buy charts for the Bahamas.  We drove to Ft Pierce and picked up what we needed including a fancy fishing lure for Bob; he is planning to do some fishing on the way over.  

We stopped for lunch at a roadside BBQ rib place.  It was great, Bob said he would go back.  We drove the less traveled roads back to the boat to sight see. By the time we got back we were, you guessed, very tired.

The marina was packed, most of the moorings were holding three boats.  We had left out fenders just in case someone needed to raft up, but It looked like no one did, so that was a plus.  

Monday 12/24/2012;  Christmas Eve. The first business of the day was to return the rental thing. I had to drive it. A very humiliating experience. 
Peggy met me at the car rental place and we went shopping together. Of course it took longer than expected and I didn't get to Bob’s list.  I did have a shower at Peg and Herbs and then took their car back to boat. 

 We had to go to Walmart and West Marine since I didn’t get the things Bob needed earlier. (sand paper)  

Bob cleaned up and we joined Peg and Herb for Christmas Eve dinner, it was nice to be with family. 

Tuesday 12/25/2012:  Christmas Day: We decided to move the boat to The Moorings yacht club so we could save some time and put two bridges behind us.  The short trip was very nice, it was warm sunny, the water was calm and the boat's wake reflected in the smooth water.

The entry to the Yacht Club was well marked but very shallow, I hope we can get out later. 

 We tied up with no problem, actually the Commodore, Bill, was there and helped us. 

We had Christmas dinner with Jay, Trish, Peggy and Herb. There was lots of good food and good cheer all around.  

Trish and Jay had a new rescued dog, very friendly fluffy white Shih Tzu named Notso. 

Around 3:00pm we went back to the yacht club and dredged our way back to the ICW.  

The water around the golf course was the tricky part.  We Almost didn’t make it. Even the Osprey couldn't watch.

We checked the weather again just as we were coming into Ft Pierce and discovered a major change for the worse. 
We anchored at Ft Pierce and will have to take the ICW to Ft Lauderdale.

Wed 12/26/2012: The ICW was choppy with 30kt gusts, but at least it was warm.  The boat was heeling over with out any sail up.

The ICW was a constant stream of large homes, estates, museum type buildings and incredible landscaping.  Most of the architecture was Spanish influence, a few ultra modern, one New England Cape Cod design, one that looked like a ski lodge from Colorado, there were some Island style homes, and a lot of boring badly designed monstrosities.

It was fun to see some of the older small Florida homes tucked in between the mansions. There are a few holdouts left. 

We anchored in Lake Worth, N Palm Beach, in very windy conditions with a nasty looking storm approaching.  We kept moving around until we could find that perfect spot.  The storm went over us fairly quickly and the anchor held.

Thursday 12/27/2012:  We woke to a cold north wind. Back into jeans, jackets and gloves;  will we ever get to the warm stuff. 
Today we get to navigate 32 bridges, mostly bascule with odd opening schedules. 


There were more yahoos in fast boats going at top speed with no respect for sailboats or smaller boats. The scary part was that kids were being towed around in water toys in the middle of the ICW. 

No brains in this part of town. 




There were again lots of interesting homes, sights, overpowered boats, lots of bikinis for Bob, lots of young muscle men for me.  The number of Mega Yachts crammed into marinas was incredible.  Talk about keeping up with the Jones.

Thankfully it warmed up by the end of the day and we anchored in the Pompano Beach area just off the ICW in front of some moderate homes.  I guess Pompano is the poor cousin to the N-W Palm Beach areas. It was a nice anchorage complete with a full moon. very nice.  This photo is blurry but you get the idea. 

Friday 12/28/2012:  We Left our anchorage at 8am. Only three bridges to navigate to get to our destination of Las Olas City Marina mooring field.  We pulled in at 9:10am grabbed a mooring in the tight field and powered down. 

We took the dinghy up river a bit to a small park.  As we pulled up to the dinghy dock we saw a some folks, using a water propelled back pack, buzzing around the small bay.  Crazy sight.

We locked the dinghy to the dock and walked to a Chinese restaurant and had a small but nice meal.  Our next stop was to Publix to provision the boat  for the Bahamas crossing later tonight.  On the way back to the boat we took the dinghy through some back canals off the waterway.  It was an entirely different scene from what you see on the ICW.  We had to duck under the very low bridges while trying not to drag the prop over the rocky bottom or hit the paddle boarders touring the canals.  They made no effort to move out of the way. 

Back on board Bob took a nap and I did some catch up stuff and at 8pm we headed to the Ft Lauderdale inlet for our crossing to the Bahamas. We had expected a slack tide but the tide was still coming in, and the enormous cruise ships and cargo ships were just going out with others waiting to come in.  Leaving at night with all the lights and boat traffic was a challenge but we managed to get out of the way and on course.

The first part of our crossing was not bad, we were close hauled and the seas and wind were manageable. However, the winds picked up and the 2ft to 3ft wave height predictions were now at 5ft to 6ft.  The increased wave height and winds made for an uncomfortable overnight crossing. 

Sat 12/29/2012 Sleeping was not really an option, it was bad below, and on deck. It even got worse after we left the Gulf Stream.  We had to decide whether to go into the West End or continue to Port Lucaya.  Even though it was nasty we decided to head to Port Lucaya.  We were now in a following sea and surfing along at about 9kts. The conditions did not improve with the arrival of daylight. It took us a while to find the marker for the bell channel, but when we did, we were committed, and headed in the narrow channel surfing all the way.  Mr toads wild ride comes to mind. 

As we got into the protected area it was wonderfully calm and warm. We called the Dock Master for a place to tie up. They don't seem to answer the hail until you are practically on top of them.   Bob came in like a pro and we pulled up along side the fuel dock with ease.  We put up our yellow quarantine flag at 9am and waited for the immigration and customs folks to clear us.   The Immigration officer showed up around 10am and the Customs Officer arrived around 11:00am. We cleared by 11:30 am.   I did a lot walking back and forth to the customs office, either looking for the officer and then when she arrived, I kept forgetting stuff.  We were very tired. I, know you have heard that before.

The Dock Master, Ryan, was helpful finding a taxi for Bob's early morning departure tomorrow.  It was his dad's taxi.
Ryan also put me in touch with Captain Chris to do the bright work. Capt Chris showed me the boats he was working on and we agreed to contact each other next week.

Bob struck up a conversation with the large trawler next to us, Rita and Kirk. (don’t call him captain kirk) We talked over drinks from the stern of our boats then had something to eat and crashed.  Bob's flight was very early in the am.  I had left a message for Rick and LIz about getting some help moving the boat to Ocean Reef Yacht Club tomorrow. I was using the Dock Master's office phone to make the local calls to Rick and Liz.

Sunday 12/30/2012 Bob left early am with Neville, the taxi driver, and I went back to bed for a bit.  I was sad to see him go before getting to Ocean Reef.  

I didn’t want to call Rick and Liz early, I am sure they are on Bahamas time, so I sent emails instead.  We connected around 10:30am and they headed my way with several helpers.

Rick, Liz, Glen, and Hank all came down around 11:00am to help me move the boat to Ocean Reef Yacht Club.  Rick did the captain thing, he skillfully backed us out of the slip and out the inlet.  The water was calm, the wind down, how different from yesterday. 

We cruised into his inlet with water so clear we easily see could see any shallow spots.  Since it was high tide there was not much to worry about.
















 We passed Rick and Liz's house on the way to my slip. Spot and Barbara's boat was rafted up next to their boat.






There were all kinds of boaters at slip B6 to help out.  

In a matter of minutes The boat was secured the electic hooked up, and water close by to wash off the salt. 

I have arrived!








I checked out my immediate surroundings and settled in.


I am on the quiet side of the marina.  There is a small pool in front of my boat, tennis courts to my left and exercise room to my right. 

The main pool, restaurant, office and dive shop are on the other side. 

I am looking forward to my new adventure.

St Augustine Fl to Vero Beach 12/13 - 12/16

St Augustine to Vero Beach 12/13 -12/16
Thurs 12/13: We arrived in Jacksonville and had a taxi pick us up and drive us back to Spot’s place.  Our plan was to move the boat out of Spot’s inlet when we arrived but the tide was not right so we had early dinner at restaurant that catered to a low income folks.  The food was good and the people interesting.  We had borrowed the yellow jeep so we got a chance to see some of the famous Christmas lights. 

Upon return to the boat we decided to check, oil, filters and generally have the boat ship shape for an early morning departure. Bob thought it would be good idea to check the raw water intake because of the prior grounding and there could be some junk in the bowl.  This was a good idea however he may have been a bit zealous when tightening down the very specialized bolts.  One broke!  After much thinking, Bob checked the other raw water intakes to see if the bolts were the same size. They were not.  So, back into the jeep and we go to home depot to find something we could use to fabricate a useable bolt.  With some help we came up with a workable solution.  

There were lots of christmas lights to admire on our trip back to the boat.  It took a while but Bob put together a make shift bolt that finally worked.  By this time it was late and we were very tired. We can leave early tomorrow am and catch the tide.

Friday 12/14:  6:45am we head out of Spot’s inlet, made it past the shallow place and headed down the ICW.  It was cold, windy and rainy and we were back into winter clothes and rain gear.  






The ICW scenery is varied, with an assortment of "live a boards", and many that are past their prime.

It's always a little sad to see the abandoned boats along the waterway.

We made great time, passing other boats until we arrived at the Daytona twin bridge showing 62ft clearance.  Not enough for us. 

 We turned around anchored and watched all the boats we pasted go right under the bridge.  There was some discussion about the accuracy of bridge clearance. But, not being familiar with that bridge we waited for a lower tide till 3:00pm.  We pulled anchor a bit early and headed for the bridge and cleared it with lots of room to spare, we could have made it the first time. hmmmm

The water was choppy and the wind was up but we made it to the Ponce De Leon inlet just before dark and anchored a little off the ICW.  We were very tired, so we threw together a veggie dinner, complemented with wine and music and fell into bed.


Sat 12/15:  7am departure put us on a fast moving incoming tide. The Ponce De Leon looked a bit tricky but there were plenty of boats in the area that must use it.  Local knowledge is a must. We came to our first bridge right after the inlet and had to wait around for 20min for an opening.  The weather was warm, calm waters (on the ICW) and no wind.  

We must have crossed over the no coat line, we actually put on shorts as we went though the New Smyrna area.  We liked this part of the ICW, no ostentatious houses, nice reasonable homes along the water.  

We checked in with Spot and Barbara and they were going to be in Melbourne City Marina for the night.  The weather had delayed their crossing to the Bahamas.  We thought we could make it so we kicked it up a bit and were there just before dark.  

We anchored near the bridge and took the dinghy in to find them.  I guess we should have check out where we were going since our first attempt to find the marina was wrong, it brought us to a boat ramp. The second attempt got us into the hidden marina and Ichabods dockside bar and grille.  We found Spot and Barbara, had a drink on board and dinner at Ichabods.  Food was good and there were lots of interesting people enjoying the local atmosphere.

Sun 12/16: The early morning at sunrise was a treat.  We got out ahead of the rush, 

We got out ahead of the rush or so we thought.  It didn't take long for the power boats to catch up.  At least the Pelicans observed the slow speed signs.

 The ride down the ICW calm and warm with usual and unusual sights.  The sand bars made for ideal camp sites.

We arrived at Vero Beach City marina around 11:30am, I love it when we make good time.  

We had a 7:30 flight out of Orlando, so we cleaned up the boat and  took a taxi to pick up the rental car.   As we were leaving the dinghy dock we ran into Bob and Barbara on Lady Nelson.  We met them in Boothbay Harbor for the Rendezvous at the Shipyard my friend Patti was organized.  They will keep and eye on the boat for us.  They are also heading to Bahamas, but to the Exumas so we may not see them in Bahamas this year. 

We visited with Peg and Herb, Glen and Ann before leaving for the airport.  Thankfully we had plenty of time because the security at the airport was a mess. OH,  did I fail to mention it was vacation for every kid in the universe, and  all of them visiting Disney and whatever other attractions are in Orlando.  

We landed in a snow storm and missed the bus (2 buses were there at the same time). Hot chocolate helped past the time till the next bus.  We had to scrape the snow off the truck and drive home in a winter wonderland scene. We were very tired. You may have noticed we are tired a lot.  But it is so worth it.  ;-}