Vero Beach FL to Bristol RI 5/31 - 6/10/2012

Heading North, second leg, Vero Beach FL to Bristol RI

For this leg of our trip we solicited assistance from fellow PYC member Bill Pelletier.  Since we were going open ocean most of the way, and considered going around Cape Hatteras, one more person on board was necessary.  Our plan was 3hr shifts through the night and longer shifts during the daylight hours.  Bills expertise with sail shaping, single side band (SSB), weather, electronics and diesel maintenance would prove invaluable.  

Thursday May 31st.  Bill met us at the C&J bus station for the 4am departure to Boston Logan. An inflatable kayak was packed in one of the three overly stuffed bags we checked with Jet Blue.   Unfortunately,  I got  stopped at security for my kayak paddles, apparently I can not bring them aboard.  I had to go back to the counter and check them for and additional $40.  Our seats were scattered amongst the families all heading to Orlando FL. We arrived on time, picked up the rental car and off to Vero Beach we go. Before going to the Marina we had a very large  breakfast/lunch at the River Front Cafe in Vero.   

Ferrying Bob and Bill to the boat on the inflated kayak was a little unstable and wet but successful. Our boat ( Élan ) got a quick clean and then moved to the dock for fuel.  Docking took a couple of attempts because wind was not cooperating. With bow and spring line help we managed to pull the stern in.   We settled up for fuel, three weeks of mooring fees and one night slip fee. With assistance from the dock master we moved to a slip and secured our lines for the evening.  Our agenda for the day was too full, shopping for food, forgotten items and boat supplies from West Marine.  The West Marine in Vero was an Express and did not have all the safety items we needed. Bob and Bill decided to go to the one in Fort Pierce.  Our plan was to leave early the next morning, however time was getting short and there was still more to accomplish.  

The decision was made to leave later and not push the tired people so hard. A good decision.  So we had cocktails, relaxed a bit chatted with our slip neighbors and enjoyed a visit from their cat.   Time to get some sleep.

June 1 Friday.  After a good night sleep we took advantage of the City Marina shower facilities.  Bob and Bill did some more shopping, returned the rental car and took a cab back.  I was still trying to find room for all the provisions.  Our departure from the Marina was dependent on an out going tide. The bridge heights and the Ft Pierce Inlet had to be taken into consideration. The weather was overcast but a nice temp. We backed out of the slip like pros and navigated under the first bridge with very little clearance for the wind meter.  The antenna did tickled one of the navigation lights hanging from the bridge.  hmmmm

At Fort Pierce Bob could see the boats coming into the inlet from the ocean just pounding in the waves.  The inlet itself was not bad, but the exit was a bit nasty.  The tide was going out and the the waves coming in from different directions across shallow water. As we got clear we charted a course for the gulf stream.  The weather of, course, got much worse.  We could see a big storm system over Florida coming our way.  We sat in a pocket for a bit  but that ended with storms hitting from both sides.  The rain pounded making the canvas leak at a fairly good clip. We were soaked. The wind was up aprox 20 -25kts, the seas were about 4-8 with the frequent 10 to 12 footer.  The seas were confused causing a pitching and yawing motion which caused a bout of sea sickness, going below was no longer an option.  Brief trips would result in longer periods of recouping in the cockpit.  This storm lasted through the night with crew trying to get sleep during 3 hour shifts.  The aft cabin was designated as the cabin of choice for trying to sleep.  During this time the aft head had to be pumped out and several other minor issues resolved. We were all in full foul weather gear and clipped in for safety. Bill and I did see an interesting sunset as the sun popped out under the storm clouds and left them diffused with red haze.

June 2, Saturday.  The day improved as the swells became more manageable and the wind died down. We tried, somewhat unsuccessfully, drying out clothes and shoes.  Eating was tricky at best, and not everyone wanted much in their stomachs.  Bob had already removed the contents of his stomach a couple of times.  Fixing the head in a storm seemed to cause a nasty reaction. Bill and I  did manage a breakfast of yogurt and kashi cereal, and some oranges.  As we got accustomed to our shifts we were able to get some sleep. Bob set up the salon bench as a bed with a restraining board and that seemed to keep us in place a bit better.  Sleeping in the cockpit also worked well. The aft cabin was noisy with engine winch noise right in your ear.  If tired enough that didn’t bother you, but you did roll around a bit so had to strategically place pillows and whatever else was available to hold you in place.  For lunch Bob heated up some of his goulash, it was nice to have something hot, but we were still not ready to eat much at this point.  The evening meal was flutter-nutters for Bill and I and ham and cheese sandwich for Bob.  The night shifts worked well starting with a very nice sunset and moon rise.  The moon is almost full and lights up the water with wonder reflections.

June 3 Sunday. The seas have calmed down even more and the sky is blue and clear.  The gulf stream is pushing us along at about 8 to 10kts with an overall average at this point of 7.7kts.  Not bad.  The weather forecast shows more of the same with buiding seas and wind for tonight and tomorrow.  The charts for the entry to Beaufort NC are clear but the ICW is another matter. We heard that  there are some bridges that could be too low, currents could be a problem, barges and of course the depths in the channel are questionable.  But the direction of the wind for the next several days makes the route around Hatteras impossible.  The weather router on the SSB is hard to hear and we think there may be some corrosion or other problem with the contacts.  That will be checked when we get into the ICW.  

The meal for the day was lasagna, it was again good to get something hot into the belly.  We are all felling a bit better, and taking advantage of the stove while the seas are calm.  

As the afternoon wears on the seas are beginning to build and the wind is diminishing.  Not a good combination.  The sails flap hard and sound like a gun going off.  That doesn’t help the sleepers.  There is just not enough wind to fill the sails but we are still going 8 to 9+kts.  

Well, the seas continued to build into the night and by morning it was significantly difficult to manage the waves, 6 to 8’ and peaking at 12 to 14’ where they were converging. At the point where we went over the shelve, it changed from 2400' to 900’ and over the course of the next two or three hours the seas became more unpredictable.  When leaving the gulf stream on way into Beaufort the seas again were turbulent and we surfed along trying to maintain our course.  Bill and Bob took one hour shifts to keep from getting too exhausted and tried to rest in the cockpit until getting back on helm.

Monday June 4

When I came on deck early in the morning the first thing I saw was a wall of water behind Bob at the helm, It was breaking at the top and I think I had a minor heart attack.   Bob and surrounding area was all soaked.   I just sat down and watched, incredible!  Bob and Bill did a remarkable job keeping us moving toward Beaufort trying not to get pushed northward  towards Cape Hatteras and the surrounding shoals. It was a wild ride at best, terrifying at worst.  The inlet to Beaufort was another interesting challenge. Fortunately the tide was not ripping out against the opposing winds but it was still pushing us around.  You could see where this could be another nightmare approach.  Once inside we had a RR bridge and at 65’ bridge to navigate.  We made it through with no problem and we were on the ICW northbound.  YEAH

The water was calm, weather sunny and warm, and the crew happy campers to be on a relatively flat stable surface. The scenery was marsh, nice houses on the water front, very quiet, except when the larger power boats and even larger barges went by.  It was really very nice.

A team decision was made to head to Whitaker Creek Marina and stay for the night.  We could tie up in a slip for $50 including electricity and water.  The dock master rode his bike down to meet us after giving us directions on how to approach. The tie up was an interesting process.  Katuck wanted all lines out and he would secure us, he ran around the dock leaving lines untied while setting up the "tie-up".  He was a nice guy and there was no wind, so no problem, and eventually we were all secure.  He took me to the store in his little red mercedes to buy more provisions, waited and then brought me back.  Upon returning to the boat with extra goodies, the boys were having wine and relaxing.  Bob fired up the gril and we had steak, asparagus, potatoes and garlic bread with another bottle of wine.  It was delightful.  After dinner the boys went to the showers and I walked around and met some folks living at the marina.  The marina circles a small island and is rather crowded with boats.  I took pictures and then walked back to boat with Bob.  After a bit of a clean up we headed to bed in our own cabins and our own stable bed. It was a real treat. 

Tuesday June 5. Before our 7am departure from the Whitaker Creek Marina we took on water and tightened up the steering cable, checked the oil and added less than a quart.  It appears that the quadrant, v shaped arm set up, that the cables wrap around has moved a bit to starboard.  We were in very heavy seas for two days and our physical indicator on the steering wheel is also a quarter turn off from where it was.  Also the steering control arm which was centered is now more starboard by about and inch or two.  We will call John Tarling from Landing Boat Supply, and maybe give Frasier from Cabo Rico a call. 

The sky was overcast and rain predicted.  We are back in rain gear but it is not unpleasant.  A red tug was chugging along behind us against the dark sky and made for a great photo op.

The Neusse river opens up and got fairly choppy as we made our way along the ICW northward.  We stopped in Bellhaven for fuel and would have tried to find the infamous fried bologna sandwich, with chili, place, but the rains came and we moved on to the Alligator-Pungo river canal. It was close with stumps on either side and an occasional obstruction sticking up out of the murky water. 

We encountered our first fixed bridge at 65’ and made it under just fine.   The Wilkerson bridge at 64' was another story, we did run our antenna along the underside of the bridge, and let our a cheer as we made it through with wind instruments still attached.  We made the rest of the trip up the canal just ahead of a large storm passing close behind us.  

We were all deck out in foul weather gear and passed a french boat with half naked crew, I am sure they thought we were nuts as did we think of them, however they were heading into the storm and will probably show a lot less skin very soon.  When exiting the canal we decided to find a spot out of the wind and anchor for the night.  There was a stiff breeze around the corner and our spot was quiet and pleasant, until the FA18’s started maneuvers. Talk about extremes.  Dinner was very civilized with fine china, elegant wine, soft music, great food and the pleasant sounds of jet wash.  It was a good time for all.  

Wednesday June 6 - During the morning engine check we discovered the cause of our  intermittent charging problems.  The alternator hot lead was broken.  Bill and Bob took turns connecting the entire fuse holder and spade lug.  It was successful and we were charging properly again.  We departed our anchorage at 8:05A  and headed up the Alligator river. It was choppy but not bad.  However, along the way there was a somewhat familiar  smell which we tracked down, and discovered that the expansion tank overflow was overflowing.  Bob initially thought that this was because of overfilling of the coolant earlier in the trip. 

After going through a swing bridge we headed up Ablemarle Sound.  It was very choppy and windy so we decided to sail.  After unsuccessful efforts to get the main sail out we aborted and just put up jib and staysail.  Now, we were not racing, but it was noted on several occasions that we were pulling away from the other sailing vessels behind us.  

As we headed out of the sound and into the more picturesque North River, Bill discovered that the channel was narrow and the side was solid mud.  He did give me a good opportunity to get a close up shot of an osprey. We backed off the mud after the photo op and carried on with only a few pithy remarks regarding the “grounding”.  Now we are all experienced.  We safely made it to Coinjock and tied up along side a 1200’ dock.  There were already several sailboats there and the dock master, JW, tucked us right up close to the forward boat.  We chatted with some of the sailers and watched more sailboats and very large power boats come in throughout the evening.  We also spoke with a man who had just bought a Sailboat that was kept at Regatta Point Marina, It turned out to be our slip mate Carls' 47’ Catalina.  Small world. This dock was very well managed with separate power and sail docking space. You could watch the barges go by and knew you would encounter them later down the canal.  After Beers, showers, cocktails, fiddle faddle with main sail and an impressive prime rib dinner, Bill treated, we went to bed with an early wake up call set.

Thursday June 7: A successful exit from the dock at 6:15am got us on our way behind two earlier departing boats.  On our way two power boats passed us, but one asked us to slow down so they could pass. This part of the North Landing river is very peaceful, with lots of nesting ospreys with young ones.  This is so different from further south were there was virtually nothing.  All the sailboats ended up together at each bridge waiting for scheduled openings, three lifts and one lock. 

  

Our ride to Norfolk VA was very interesting as was the ride through the city.  We were going with the tide and current. The water was calm and the weather sunny and warm.  The naval shipyard was impressive with 4 aircraft carriers, at least 10 Ageais cruisers, guided missile frigates, numerous Sea Hawk helicopters, OV-10 Osprey, numerous Marine landing craft assault ships, swedish square rig replica, large tankers arriving and waiting off shore, barges, several cruisers from Norway, and a newer navy stealth cruiser. It was also fun to see all cruise ships and tall ships lined up at Virginia beach. 

Our heading leaving Norfolk was 034 degrees, and we were making good time.  Unfortunately, there was a rather large storm cell approaching.  Bob and Bill got to deal with the worst part of that.  The winds reached about 25kts plus and the wind indicatior stopped indicating, after what Bill thinks was a static discharge from the frequent, violent lightening.  Bob thought there was a "WTF option"  in the system to allow a wildly spinning indicator to say I'm out of here. It was an impressive if not threatening show for several hours.   There was a Marine bulletin advising all in the area to head to safety.  The deep red cells and rain line motivated the boys to triple reef everything and go into storm mode.  I came on my shift  after the worst of it.  The storm was right on our stern but heading west. We kept watch for the bulletins and local weather forecasts.  As the night progressed the storm stayed behind us, the winds picked up and we made good time at 7 - 8kts. But, there was still another storm cell to deal with.

Friday June 8: Bob took the early am shift and I headed to the salon bench for some sleep.  Our shifts got a little overlapped as we supported each other through the night storm.  During the day the wind and seas dropped demonstrating why the Atlantic is called "the pond". Bill gave me some pointers on sail shape and tell-tails while adjusting the sails on his shift.  It was a good learning experience for me.  The shifts got messed up a bit with sleep catch up.  The boys made there usual pithy comments throughout the day.  The wind picked again about 5pm and we were back at 7kts. I made cookies, Bob dumped the head, added lubricant to the autopilot, planned dinner which turned out to be an antipasto type dinner; assortment of cheeses, crackers, leftover meats and ice tea.  Bill was supposed to make banana bread, the bananas are ready. 

Most of the afternoon was calm.  The seas began to build again after dinner and wind picked up to about 20kts.  the swells were with us so we were running before the wind and moving along at about 8+ kts. I saw the sunset (looked like a water color scene) and sunrise on my watch.  The boys saw the moon rise, but initially thought it was a boat since it came up blood red orange.  A bit eerie.  

Sat June 9:  The seas calmed during the early am hours but we continued to make good time.  

The sunrise looked strange as it came up through the clouds and then disappeared later in an overcast sky.  With the overcast sky and calm seas it felt like a very lazy day.  

Bill worked on the steering wheel cover, Bob watched and then went down for a nap.  He left his foul weather bibs on to prevent the rain from catching us.  It worked fairly well since the storms kept passing around us.  I took a shower and ended up flooding the forward cabin.  I forgot to turn on the sump pump. It gave me an opportunity to clean the head and forward cabin floors, not what I had in mind.  I need to do some work on the shower curtain, the hooks are not hooking. 


Hot dogs for lunch and we plan to have dinner at anchor in Newport RI. 

Sea condition is glassy gray with surface fog, a few sprinkles, but what a change from our earlier start on this trip. This was all well and good until the engine started overheating.  So now, no wind and gimpy engine made our estimated arrival time at Newport much later than expected.  We backed down the engine and it did cool.  A decision needed to be made; do we go into Block Island or continue on to Newport.  The swells and current were with us so we headed to Newport and arrived there at 1am.  We picked up a mooring, shut down and went to bed.

Sunday June 10: Early morning in Newport is beautiful. No wind, glassy surface and warm.  The crews were boarding the racing boats and preparing to head out for the days race.  Since there were rolex emblems on many boats, I assume it was a rolex cup race; there are so many races here.  

Our departure time was delayed due to the engine’s failure to start.  So, the boys spent about an hour diagnosing the problem, determined it was electrical and tried to trace the source of the problem so we could get the engine started and head to Bristol. 

Bob pulled out the manual, Bill was face down in the engine hold when they discovered the emergency start button.  Just above the engine there was a label indicating where the start button was.  It would have saved an hour if they had seen that first.  However, a new thermostat, new impeller and other maintenance will be installed/performed when we get home. It appears the radiator cap is not working properly and there was not enough water in the engine.  With that discovery, they added water turned on the stove and Bob made coffee and breakfast. After a spin around Newport harbor we made the 1 /12 hr ride to Bristol.  The engine performed nicely all the way.  

My cousin Jay gave us directions to his mooring, which was not there, so we headed to the dock and pulled in.  At high tide there was enough water to keep us floating, who knows what low tide will bring.  

We unloaded the boat, chatted with Jay’s neighbor Chris who was working on his new sail boat.  Bills wife Tracy volunteered to come get us so we loaded up her van and headed out to brave the congested highways. 

As we headed home we thought about our most memorable moments, 

Best anchorage: Alligator River, 

Worst seas: going in to Beaufort NC, 

Best place to sleep: the cockpit

Best dinner on board: chicken parm at Alligator anchorage, and the steak dinner at the Whitaker Creek slip, 

Best land based dinner: Coinjock, incredible prime rib

Best site seeing: Norfolk, 

Most fun: Dolphins

Best foul weather gear: Bills 

Best safety demonstration: premature inflation

Best sunsets: ALL of them

Best at finding the channel: .........

Best smart remark: If you can't stay on the rhumb line, move the line.

Best banana bread: to be determined at a later date

Best crew: US, we took it all in stride, stayed level headed, maintained a sense of humor, and became good friends. 

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.