Sombrero Beach

Today we spent a couple of hours at Sombrero Beach. We get there by dinghy, or by bicycle. We usually dinghy from Boot Key Harbor through a short creek to the beach on the ocean side. White coral sands and torquoise waters. Can you find Carol in the picture?

Our electrical upgrades are nearly complete with everything functional. I still have some work to do to dress all the wiring and make it pretty. We have 3 to 4 more weeks here, so the pressure is off and we intend to relax!

Market Day

It's a breezy sunny Saturday morning. While Carol went to yoga class, I rode a few miles upwind along US 1 to a fabulous open air farmer's market. Tonight we will enjoy a fresh vegetable and tuna stir grill preceded by a rum punch with key lime juice.

Today is for relaxation. I spent all day yesterday working on the installation of the new alternator and inverter/charger. This is about as large a project I would want to do away from home, but Marathon has everything you need a short bike ride away. The only problem is I have to rip our home apart every time I work on it. One more days worth of effort should have it finished - maybe Monday. I'm looking forward to testing everything so I can throw away the empty boxes littering our cockpit.

This afternoon we had lunch and a bridge game on our friends Dennis and Barbara's Gozzard 36. That is Carol's idea of one nice boat!

After dinner tonight we will go to a jamb session in the Tiki Hut for some guitar music and songs. Pretty nice day!

Merry Christmas

Christmas morning and a few presents under the little tree in our boat. We attended a very nice service at the Methodist Church in Marathon last night. There were a number of cruisers participating with the choir.

I doesn't seem like Christmas even though there are lights everywhere especially at the power plant which is adjacent to the City Marina.

This afternoon we will be participating in another large potluck holiday dinner.

Life in the Keys

We're settling into a routine here in Marathon. Carol goes to a yoga class in the park three times a week, there are potluck suppers with the cruisers, a terrific white sand beach is a short dinghy ride away, and we plan to head out to the reef and do some snorkeling soon.

We had fellow cruisers Bill and Betti Neumeyer from Newburyport Mass over for a Pre-Christmas dinner last night. Prime Rib from our little oven. Dinner in the cockpit worked out fine with the decorations provided by a small Christmas tree loaned to us for the trip by Chris and Rob Skrotsky.

I have been attending a very good series of seminars on boat systems at Sea and Land Technology (SALT). They are covering electrical power management, solar and wind generation, refrigeration, battery maintenance and so on. Lots of interested attendees and I have picked up at least one tip that will make our boat safer.

Marathon and home for a while

We arrived in Marathon - Boot Key Harbor a little after 1:00 pm after an exhilarating sail downwind sail in the Hawk Channel. We don't usually see 10 knots on the gps, but broke that speed several times surfing off waves. Carol really earned her crew stripes today!

There was one dock spot left at the Marathon City Marina and we took it for a month. We are actually docked next to the cruisers lounge and would you believe - a wood shop! I don't plan to build any furniture but we do have a few boat projects to work though in the next month. Mostly we will be dealing with house battery management issues. I will be installing the inverter charger I selected last fall but ran out of time and energy to put in. Also a new high amp alternator and heavy duty wiring for same. And of course we will be putting a couple of coats of varnish on the teak to get her dressed up for Key West in February.

Hope everyone is well and ready for Christmas!

Key's at Last

Tuesday we left Dinner Key for Key Largo. What a day! We had a nice sail from Coconut Grove down to Angelfish Creek at the east end of Key Largo. You can see our boat anchored in the mangroves right off the Anglefish Creek channel. Mangroves are wonderful plants for dampening wake either from wind or boats. A number of large sportfishing boats plowed through the channel between where I took this picture and our boat. Almost no rocking.

We spent three nights at this spot. One night to enjoy the scenery and two to wait the passage of a cold front. This area isn't as isolated as it looks in the picture. On the otherside of Angelfish Creek is the community of Ocean Reef Florida. I took a few dinghy rides past some very exclusive waterfront real estate. I thought it might look tacky to take pictures so I didn't. We were anchored fairly near the jet strip and saw a number of Gulfstream Jets touch down. Not too many people out and about around the houses however.

Today we left for a motor sail down to Holiday Isle Marina. We are motor sailing in the Hawk Channel between the keys and a reef. Note the color of the water. I was concerned about anchoring out in the fairly exposed spots south of the Keys and this was the only marina who offered any encouragement getting in with a sailboat. Well we just about didn't make it over the bar in mid to falling tide touching a couple of times. We're glad we got in, but it could have been a long time waiting for a rising tide.

Tomorrow we leave in 3/4 and rising tide for what should be a sleigh ride sail to Marathon.

Dinner Key Marina

We are in the very large Dinner Key Marina which is run by the City of Miami. We have enjoyed several great municipal marinas in Florida. This one is pretty large and not at all geared to transients. But it will do for one night. Then it is off to Angelfish Creek where we will anchor out for several days maybe waiting for a weather system to move through so we can enter the Hawk Channel (between a coral reef and the Keys) and traverse it to Marathon. The trip will take three days. So no updates until we arrive in Marathon and that could be a week or so.

The weather is great here. Bathing suit warm during the days and cool hatches open sleeping at night.

Miami

We got into Miami around noon. We sailed outside from Ft. Lauderdale to Miami and arrived at the inlet sandwiched in between a couple of container ships. The Miami pilot boat was helpful with navigation, keeping us away from the overtaking container ship and directing us away from the government cut where the number of cruise ships dictated no pleasure boats. (Homeland Security). We went outside expecting 10 to 15 out of the north west. Perfect, but it didn't materialize until we were securely anchored amongst the harbor islands.

Sunday afternoon is probably not the best time to arrive in Miami. Lots of small boat traffic and noise from bars and the tour boats. But it quieted down by 7:00 or so and we enjoyed the nice sunset pictured here.

Off to Dinner Key tomorrow - about 5 miles away.

Ft Lauderdale

We are enjoying a down day at the Coral Ridge Yacht Club. It is a very nice club with a large, mostly social, membership.

The club is decorated up for Christmas and Carol wishes she had a short sleeve Christmas shirt for the picture.

Today we enjoyed a morning swim in the heated pool right next to the ICW followed by a great outdoor lunch featuring very fresh fish. I also got some time on a treadmill in the well equipped gym. The only issue here is the proximity to the ICW which is hard bulkheaded in this area. Even though boats traverse at low speeds, the wake reverberates forever and it can get uncomfortable aboard. Not very many Coral Ridge members sleep aboard.



I spent an hour or so cleaning up the boat. A great product introduced to me by a power boater in Titusville may be of interest to boaters reading this. It's called Salt Away and sold by West Marine. I'd never heard of it. You attach a mixing accessory to your hose and fill the jar with Salt Away liquid. You just spray the boat with a frothy mixture and don't rinse. When it drys the whole boat sparkles!



The current round of ecomomic problems seem to be hitting South Florida particularly hard. Lots of For Sale signs and stories of fortunes being lost in the real estate market.

Boca Raton

The picture to the left is of a house and boat who are our neighbors for the night. While this house and especially the boat out front are impressive, we have passed many much more elegant places along the way. Someone came out to watch us anchor and about a half hour we were visited by the Boca Raton police. Maybe a connection - probably not. The police were very polite, asked how long we were staying and where we were headed.

We have passed many derelict anchored boats which look like they may have been abandoned. I can see why Florida waterfront home owners are sensitive to the issue of having anchoring neighbors who may be inclined to make it a permanent arrangement.

Lots of bridges today (12). There opening schedule is great for a boat which can comfortably do about 7 Knots. We can, but not comfortably. Our normal diesel consumption is just over 1/2 gallon per hour. Today it was probably close to 1 gallon per hour.

Tomorrow we head into the Coral Ridge Yacht Club in Ft. Lauderdale. They are YCA members which gets us a slip for $2.00 per foot. Not free, but a big bargin for Ft. Lauderdale

Another Cold Front

We are anchored in Lake Worth (North Palm Beach). Some very nice homes and condos are breaking up the North wind. Lots of sunshine but cool and the promise of 40's again tonight. No swimming for a while.

Jensen Beach

We left the comfort of Vero Beach this morning after a very stormy night there. A cold front came through, but we were at the dock for some much needed cleaning! Hated to leave the many friends we made while there, but most of them will be heading across to the Bahamas anyhow. We will meet up with some in Marathon, which is our next major stop over. Went swimming in the Atlantic Saturday in the warm air in advance of the cold front. Not as cold as the beach in Cape Cod this last labor day.

Thanksgiving Etc

We're still here in Vero Beach at anchor with the Fosters. Yesterday we had a great Thanksgiving dinner celebration with about 50 other cruising boats in a very nice park building about a 5 minute dinghy ride from our boat. A number of turkeys, hams, and every side imaginable. The temp. was a sunny 72 and a number of folks ate outside on the deck.

The photo shows the anchorage from a high rise bridge that takes us from the island into the town of Vero Beach. We are about in the center of this picture. This is a great cruising destination, but Monday we head south for brief stays in Ft. Lauderdale and Miami, then onto our next rest stop at Marathon. We expect to be in Marathon for a month and then onto Key West for our luxury month at the Galleon Marina on a dock. Then in March we will either head for the West Coast of Fla or retrace our steps back to New Bern.

Vero Beach

We're settled in at Vero Beach. It finally feels like Florida with temps in the 70's at least. We are moored adjacent to the Vero Beach City Marina. We share a ball with friends of ours (Tom and Ollie Foster) from Blackbeard Sailing Club. There are a large number of other boats here provisioning and waiting for suitable weather for crossing the Gulf Stream.

Great shopping, dining, and a free city bus system that takes you everywhere. We went to a Publix market which rivals Pittsford Wegmans and Charleston Harris Teeter. Took in a car show yesterday which featured a lot of classic 50's Detroit Iron. 50's music was blaring and Carol & Ollie were dancing in the street.

The cruisers had a BYOB and snack party yesterday afternoon - great turnout and great food. We will be here though Thanksgiving and are looking forward to a big cruisers Turkey Day Potluck.

Melbourne

It's a little after lunch time and we are anchored out in a creek off the Indian River in Melbourne. We are in a beautiful protected spot, but it is still mighty windy and the forecast is for this to last indefinately!

The Indian River is a shallow wide river which runs north and south separated from the ocean by a narrow strip of sand. When the wind is out of the north (or south) you have many miles of fetch and some choppy waters. Last night we rocked and rolled at a dock in Titusville Marina which is not well protected. This morning the winds were down a bit and we were able to get off the dock at around 7:30. We let out the big gennie and began motor sailing south. I was sleep deprived so went down for a nap around 9:00. About an hour later Carol woke me up because the sail wanted to gybe. As I woke up I thought our engine was coming apart - making a loud vibrating noise. When I came up on deck and looked at the gps, we were doing over 7.5 knots so the diesel was just "idling" at 2500 rpm. A diesel engine wants to be under a load and the sail and wind were depriving it of that load. We shut the engine down for a while until we were overpowered with the sail. Then we shortened sail, then rolled it up and motored to an early arrival around noon at Melbourne. Tomorrow we head for Vero Beach and a two week stay.
Can't wait to settle down.

Titusville

Another cold front is coming through with a reiforcing shot of frigid air and a lot of wind. We actually sailed part of the way down the Indian River today. It was a sleigh ride and you could steer by keeping the huge Vehicle Assembly Building (at Cape Kennedy) right on the bow. Way to much wind (for us) to anchor out on the unprotected Indian River so we ducked into the Titusville Municipal Marina.

Tonight we will have a pizza delivered and will buy some Ben & Jerry's for the first ice cream in a month. Freeze warnings tonight, the space heater will be working!

Smyrna Yacht Club

What a relaxing day today has been!

We spent last night at anchor in Daytona. All was well until about 2 am when the tide started coming in against the wind. We were in a pretty good standing wave for a couple of hours. We did manage an ok nights sleep, but we were out of there at daybreak.

Arrived at this beautiful Spanish Architecture club about 9:30 am and have enjoyed the most relaxing day of the trip. Did a little cleaning, some reading, some napping, etc. What a great place to stay and for a terrific price - one night free! We have been talking with some of the members and getting tips for similar clubs along our route in Florida. Apparently Florida has a strong cruising yacht club association with reciprical privilages for members. Some but not all of these honor the Yacht Clubs of America card. This reminds us of the joys of cruising to the yacht clubs on Lake Ontario. We'll see how many more we can stay at over the next 4 months.

Daytona Beach

We're in Daytona after a bit of a long day. Not too many places to stop between St. Augustine and here. There was one anchorage listed by Skipper Bob, but we ran softly aground trying to get in. So we continued on a few hours after we really wanted to stop to anchor out in the middle of the city of Daytona Beach. Interesting spot on a Sunday night.

Tomorrow it is a few miles down the ICW to a free night at a dock at the Smyrna Yacht Club. We expect to be in Vero Beach on Thursday and will spend about two weeks there and celebrate Thanksgiving at the cruisers potluck.

We're in Florida

Well it's been a few days since we've posted anything and there is much to talk about. We are now in St. Augustine Florida and have finished our second day here. We spent one night at anchor and are currently tied to a dock in the municiple marina. But let me back up a minute.

On our trip down from Jekyll Island we spent two nights at anchor. The first night was just south of Fernandina Beach Fla. Lots of cruisers go there, but we didn't go ashore to find out why. Lots of noise and smelly paper mills. So we had a noisy / smelly night and moved on early the next morning. It was about then that we began to worry about our cell phone. No service since we entered Florida. It was like going to a foreign country. No cell phone service could be a big deal. If you get into trouble on the waterway it's the cell phone that gets you help. So when we pulled into St Augustine, the first order of business was to call Tracfone and find out what happened. Apparently our digital phone was becoming obsolete and at least in this part of the country we needed a GSM phone. Getting set up with a new phone was amazingly inexpensive but took most of the day.

We spent yesterday at anchor and paid $10 to use the marina facilities. This was a test exercise since it will be our mode for much of the time in Florida. It's simple economics - $10 versus $90 per day. We got an amazing bonus with our stay at anchor - viewing the launch of the Space Shuttle Endeavor. It was a night launch and at this distance we saw a bright orange streak until the first stage burnt out and was discarded. It was pretty thrilling.

We spent today biking around St Augustine and taking in the historic sights. The weather has been hot and humid the last several days, but a cold front is supposed to be coming tonight. Several sailboats in the marina are planning on going outside tomorrow to take advantage of the fair winds for south bound boats.

Carol snapped the picture of the egret on our dock. These birds are pretty tame and would probably come into the cabin for a snack.

Great Day on Jekyll

We had a busy day today on Jekyll. We started out doing the various boat chores which accumulate. I changed the oil and vacuumed out the boat while Carol borrowed the marina van and went grocery shopping.

We rode the bikes back to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel and had a terrific lunch in the Grand Dining Room. Very relaxing - I can't remember spending over an hour and a half for lunch. A dish like shrimp and grits for Carol, and capellini with shrimp, shittake mushrooms, kalamata olives, and artichoke hearts in a garlic and white wine sauce for me - yumm!! Dinner will be an apple, some yogurt, and a cookie.

Then we got back on the bikes and tried to work off some of the calories. We stopped by the Georgia Sea Turtle and got to visit the patients in the turtle hospital. It was facinating to learn how they restore rescued turtles to health with the goal of returning them to their habitat.

We are off to Florida tomorrow if the weather settles down a bit over night.

Jekyll Island

After three nights on the hook in the Georgia salt marshes, we arrived today at Jekyll Island. The marshes are actually very pleasant and surprisingly bug free. As soon as you pull into a marina in civilization you are in a swarm of no-see-um bugs.

We spent the afternoon biking through the historic resort grounds formerly winter playground to the rich and famous, now expensive hotels and a state park. We plan to have lunch tomorrow at the Jekyll Island Club featured in the attached photo. Also will be putting a few miles on the bikes on the extensive bike trials on the island

Finally Beaufort SC

After three nights in a boat yard off the North Edisto River, we are finally back on our ICW track. Other than making our wallet flat, the stay in Rockville Marine wasn't too bad. We have a new raw water pump and water temperature gauge and I have learned a few new things about the boat. I also have an ongoing email dialog with Westerbeke about their "improved" raw water pump which failed after very few engine hours. We think it's about time to repower Traumerei with the latest in Japanese marine propulsion technology.

We anchored in a very quiet creek last night near the Dataw Island housing development we looked into about 15 years ago. This morning we slid into the Beaufort City Docks for a little laundry and grocery action. The temps are in the high 70's and it seems like summer here at last. Beaufort is a charming historic town with a terrific waterfront including resturants and a great park. We ate lunch at Plums on the waterfront, took a walk through the historic district, and I read a book on a swing in the park before dinner. Very nice!

The cruising guides warn about the NO-SEE-UM bug in Beaufort. We were here in December helping a friend move his boat North and of course now. We can attest that Beaufort has the No-See-UM bug in a big way!

Tomorrow we head further South and expect to be in Georgia soon. We are looking forward to spending some quality time in St Augustine and then coming to rest in Vero Beach Fla.

A little inconvenience

On our way motoring to Beaufort SC yesterday, we heard a strange sound from the engine exhaust. Fortunately we had heard it before when mussels tried building a home in our engine sea water intake and we knew to shut down the engine right away and drop anchor. Unfortunately running a garden hose from the deck washdown pump down the engine intake did not solve the problem this time. It was time to collect on about 10 years of paying for unlimited towing insurance. It was a Sunday and I think we got most of our ten years worth of premiums back. We are now at a competent boat yard off the North Edisto river and should be underway bright and early Wednesday morning with a new seawater pump.

We'll spend the time doing some boat chores, making a few improvements to the living conditions, and enjoying the shore power and great wifi connection.

The boat yard goose is swimming against the falling tide. Carol has also seen a Snowy Egret at low tide.

Terrific warm fall weather today. We had a great day for biking into Charleston along the Battery and ending up in the market section. Only tacky junk for sale there so we moved along on Meeting Street to a bike shop where I bought an inner tube for our bikes as a safety spare. Outside Carol got a tip for a public market in a large park by the old Citadel (now a hotel). It was terrific! We got some fresh produce and enjoyed talking with the farmers and fellow shoppers.

We then had lunch at the Southend Brewery - a nice beer or two and a terrific vegiterian pizza. The people in Charleston really know how to eat!

We are off tomorrow heading for Beaufort. Hope to be there on Monday evening and will spend
Tuesday there for the election returns. Expect to encounter some dirty weather on the way. Stay tuned.

The parallel parking boat from a couple of days ago is the Mystique. She is parked across the way from us and is 156 feet overall. Yesteday she took on a little fuel, 6,100 gallons to be exact and her tender took on a mere 300 gallons. Just think of what you could do with $20K or so!

Bye

It's Halloween and a few boats are decorated. This pumkin is on a trawler next to us and we hit them up for a flashlight so we could unlock our boat and a little candy. Had a terrific Charleston dining experince at the Slightly North of Broad (SNOB) resturant. We have by no means tried them all, but it's our favorite so far.

Went to Harris Teeter today and came back in the van with the cook for one of the Mega Yachts in the marina. She had two full carts of groceries which should hold this boat of 5 crew and 7 guests for about two days.

Tomorrow we go biking and will try the Southend Brewery for lunch.

Charleston Harbor

We arrived in Charleston Harbor this afternoon after a long day on the waterway. We are anchored out just across from the City Marina where we check in tomorrow morning early. We are looking forward to the city and the great places to eat.

We watched this dude parallel park in the spot between the sail and powerboat while eating dinner. Talk about some serious thrusters. We could hear them working from across the Ashley River.

We have been traveling and in radio contact for a number of days with another sailboat named Gigi's Island. Get to meet them in person tomorrow at the City Marina.

Frost on the Green Pumkin

Pretty cold here in Myrtle Beach this morning. That's frost on the sailcover and the ramps up to the bathrooms were very slippery! We are comfortable with the heat, television, and computer all on and using shore power.

Tonight we will be in Georgetown. Maybe another marina night since it will be very cold one more night.

Another Marina Night

Today started out a little rough. We were anchored in Calabash Creek and it was in the 30's this morning when we woke up. So I did what we usuallly do when it's this cold at anchor and started a fire in the woodstove. BIG MISTAKE! The tide was coming in and the boat was stern-to-the-wind. So the wind blew over the enclosure and right down into the stove chimney. The boat quickly filled up with heavy smoke and we still have a slight odor.

Today featured bright clear skies, high winds, and cold temperatures, with so we headed into the Osprey Marina for a quiet and warm (electric heat) tie-up.

Easy Day

We left St James late and arrived in Calabash Creek (just north of Myrtle Beach) early. We just barely have an internet connection so no pictures.

After a very fast trip down the Cape Fear River (over 10 knots at times) we arrived at St. James Plantation Marina at about 1:00. Great spot with all the amenities you could ask for the terrific price of $1.05 per foot. We are going to try the resturant tonight. It's our first night at a dock since leaving last Monday and seems just about the right time to do it - laundry, clean the boat, a couple of very long hot showers!

Carol is enjoying the deck overlooking the boat basin.

The Morning After

We had quite a bit of excitement last night in the anchorage at Wrightsville Beach. Lots of boats came in to ride out the dirty weather. We had some. We woke up about 2:oo am to lots of noise and unsusual motion. A severe squall was moving through and winds were gusting to the mid 50's. I turned on the chart plotter to see if we were moving and we were not. I then started the engine so I could take some strain off the ground tackle if needed. No sooner had I done this and another sailboat drifted into view.
We spent probably 20 minutes (seemed like several hours) dodging both the Catalina 38 and the catamaran in the foreground of this picture.
Of course we were constrained by our 90 chain teather, but we were able to at least tack the boat and avoid collisions on a number of occasions. One time the dinghy behind the Catalina acted as a fender.

There will be lots of people napping in the anchorage today!

This post will be brief. We are in Wrightsville beach and will stay here the next two days since the weather is supposed to turn nasty. Walked on the beach today and did a little grocery shopping.

Here is a bonus post. The steak and Pinot Noir lived up to expectations. Here is a shot of our after dinner view. Just getting into practice for the Key West sunsets.

Today brings to Topsail Beach. We took some time to sort out a problem with the waterheater. Turns out we have to motor at a higher RPM to get the engine water to flow through the waterheater. This gives us a little more speed and uses a lot more fuel. But running out of hot water in the middle of a shower is no fun. Today was another sunny crisp day on the waterway with north winds behind us most of the time. We really lucked out with the currents today and saw speeds between 6.5 and 7.5 nautical miles per hour most of the time. Lots of fish are being caught in the inlets we pass. Tonight we feast on steak and a nice pinot noir.

Today was a beautiful day on the waterway. Unfortunately we were completely out of phase with the tidal currents flowing into the inlets and made very slow progress ending in Swansboro NC. The picture is of a commercial fishing operation in Swansboro. Took on some diesel fuel in Swansboro for "only" $2.79 per gallon. Saw more dolphins today but the camera wasn't on deck. Will concentrate on that tomorrow.

A crisp start to our trip South

We left Blackbeard Sailing Club this morning at 7:45 with the temps in the high 40's. Enjoyed the enclosure and motor sailed to Adams creek in a little over 2 1/2 hours. The pace slowed down considerablely as bucked the current in Adams Creek. Anchored in Taylors' Creek Beaufort around 2:30 for a pleasant afternoon and peaceful evening. Sailed with the dolphins and watched wild ponies on Carrot Island during dinner.