Brunswick to Key Biscayne Autumn 2016
Tuesday, October 25,
2016. James picked us up at 6:00am to take us to the flight out of
Manchester, NH. We arrived in
Jacksonville at 1:00pm rented a car and drove to Brunswick. We stopped at Brunswick Landing Marina to
check on whether the work we had them do was completed. We were disappointed that after sitting in
the yard for a month, they still had polishing left to complete and the prop
and line cutter needed to be re-installed after servicing. Seeker (Kathy and Earl) drove up from St.
Mary’s (where their boat spent the summer) for dinner at Basil Thai. Very nice. 7:30pm, we retired to the Comfort
Suites for the night.
Wednesday, October
26, 2016. Beautiful morning. No clouds, 80 degrees, wind NE @15. The MaxProp gets re-installed and more work
is done on polishing. We changed propane
fittings, replaced the wheel and then found a missing washer, so had to search
on out. The line cutter was
re-installed, but the bolts won’t hold.
This yard replaced this last year, and apparently did not install it
correctly. It is now the end of the day, so another night in the hotel,
hopefully, splashing Rhiannon tomorrow.
Thursday, October 27,
2016. Another beautiful day. There is a sunken shrimp boat from Hurricane
Hermine at the dock at the park next door to the marina. There is a salvage company there attempting
raise it without breaking it apart. By 3pm, they have her afloat on her
own. Not sure what caused her to sink,
but it wasn’t a holed hull. Heard from Jaz.
They are headed to Saint Augustine from the Chesapeake. Maybe we will see them this week-end.
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| Brunswick Courthouse |
Brunswick was one of the places that Liberty Ships were
built during World War II. The yard
employed over 16,000 people and turned out one Liberty Ship every week. There is a memorial to that effort in the
park next to the marina.
The guys in the yard finally decide they can repair the line
cutter with epoxy and do that, but it has to sit 24 hours, so we won’t get to
launch today. Another night at the hotel.
Friday, October 28,
2016. It looks like the repair to
the line cutter is holding. We found that one of the large windows in the
salon has gotten broken while Rhiannon
sat in the yard. Not sure how. The yard has no idea. It’s a mystery. We talked to a couple of local glass
companies and they do not want to deal with a boat window that has a bit of a
curve. We will call Catalina. The bottom did get painted and a nice job was
done. We finally launch at 4:30pm and head for our slip. The marina was supposed to have someone there
to help with lines, but he said (on the radio) that he would be a few
minutes. After half an hour, no one has
arrived, so we try it ourselves. Lisa jumped from the boat with the lines and
went straight across the dock into the water.
Luckily nothing hurt other than her pride! The finger pier is slanted as
the float under it has quit floating and that probably assisted her into the
water. The marinas attitude was it was
our fault, which it was, even tho’ the dock hand never showed up.
Saturday, October 29,
2016. Work continues getting the
boat ready to head to the Bahamas. We
have a long list including oil, and filter changes to both the engine and the
generator, changing all the fuel filters, air filters, and water pump impellers. Jaz
has shown up and we still have the rental car so we head over to Barbara Jean’s
on St. Simon’s Island for dinner. The
food is just great and the prices reasonable.
Sunday, October 30,
2016. Jaz
takes off. We spent a couple of months
traveling with them last winter. They
are headed to St. Augustine, where they will leave the boat and head home to
Hawaii. Chris has been offered a very
good job and they will be there for at least 2 years.
Monday, October 31,
2016. We are not happy with the
detailing the yard did to the boat. Last year the boat shined like new,
including the cockpit and the cabin house and hull. Also, last year the stainless was all
polished and all the rust stains gone.
Not so this year, and you can see swirls and missed areas on the
hull. Cindy (Manager) and George (who
did the work) came to look. They could not see the issues. Maybe that’s the problem. Next time we will have work done
elsewhere. We like the marina and its
facilities, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone running the place, especially
service – at least anyone who knows what they are doing. Disappointing.
Before the rental car was returned to Jacksonville, we filled the boat with fuel (24 gallons) and filled the one empty propane tank (we carry 2 ten pound tanks). I was picked up at the airport by Grant and Libby (Nightingale), who had borrowed Seeker's car. I
visited with Seeker in St.
Mary’s. I wanted to see the boat yard they
are in. They then drove me back to Brunswick,
and then we all went to Barbara Jean’s for dinner. Another excellent meal.
Tuesday, November 1,
2016 through Friday November 4, 2016.
We finished provisioning and completed several more projects (including
repair, cleaning and conditioning the dingy).
The water pump on the generator has a leak. It turns out that the pump has a drain screw
which has corroded and fallen apart, allowing water to leak out. I took the pump body over to the local
machine shop, the one that fixed our rudder shaft in 2012 and got it drilled
out and tapped. Turns out he did not
have a tap the correct size, so I went to the automotive fastener dealer in
Brunswick and got the correct one. It
was $5 and I traded him the tap for the work.
Nice!
Friday, we checked out of the marina and settled our
bill. Still not happy about some things
and the rates they charge here are top dollar and the work just has not
been. This is the second year in a row
that we have had issues, since Jim their service manager left (and has not been
replaced). We like the marina and they have free beer and wine at the happy
hours. They have free laundry and the
boaters lounge and showers are nice. If
we stay here again, we will make other arrangements to get work done.
Saturday, November 5,
2016. Off the dock at 8:30am. Clear and cool 55 degrees. Wind NE @ 10-15. Nan, Lotti and Mary (from
our dock) came to see us off and help with lines.
9:30am Jekyll Island at half tide – no issues.
11:00am Cumberland Island , north end, St. Andrews
Sound. 6 foot seas, wind 20-25 NE.
snarly!
12:30pm seas and wind calm down as we get behind Cumberland
Island.
1:30pm Fernandina Beach (Amelia Island). 2 hours past high tide and we had no issues
with the skinny water just south of Fernandina.
The docks at Cumberland Island are closed because of the
damage from Hurricanes Hermine and Mathew.
Two marinas in Brunswick (Morningstar and Frederica YC) sustained major
damage. Fernandina City Marina is closed
due to damage. We saw lots of sunken
boats, boats washed ashore and docks destroyed all the way south.
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| Sunken Boats in Fernandina |
 |
| Many Boats Ashore |
4:30pm The free dock
at Jacksonville (Sisters Creek) is full.
The anchorage across from it has a barge in it and a bunch of new
pilings in the water. The new Bridge is
complete, but they are disassembling the old bridge so still lots of work going
on here. As we cross the St. Johns river, there is still a lot of dredging going
on and you have to pay attention to the channel markers as you cross the river
as they have moved.
We stop for the night at Palm Cove Marina. While they advertise that the slips are on a
wide fairway and lots of room, not so for our boat.
The
boat performed well today. Dinner on
board. 72SM 57NM today. MM747. 30°17.41.N
081°25.88’W
Sunday November 6, 2016. 7:00am rain and clouds this morning.
Showers predicted off and on for the day.
Time change overnight (I still do not understand why we do this). 8:30am off the dock. Cloudy/bright and humid 70 degrees.
12:30pm
Bridge of Lyons (St. Augustine). Weather seems to be clearing. You can see lots of roof damage and docks
damaged, as well as how high up the water mark is on a lot of the houses along
the shore – looks like a couple of feet.
1:00pm
on the T-head at Rivers Edge Marina (on the San Sebastian River).
35SM
28NM today. MM780. 29°53.13’N 081°19.36’W
Cocktails
and hors devours at A1A with Pegasus
(who we met on the way down), as well as Exuberant,
Heartstring, Runaway, and Kismet.
We walked over to Old Town and many places are open (like Café del Hidalgo for
gelato), but many along the waterfront are not (like Harry’s (one of our
favorites) and the American Legion (both right on the waterfront).
Monday, November 7, 2016. Walked over
to West Marine and the Farmers Market (by the marina), visited Roger who was
working on Down Time. They sustained some minor damage during
Mathew, but mainly, his boat’s lines are holding the T-dock on Dock E together.
Dinner
at the Floridian on Old Town with Down
Time, Jaz, What If and their guests.
The food is “Nuevo Southern Cuisine with a Flare” and they use local
ingredients as much a possible. It was
good, different. Service was just fair.
Tuesday, November 8, 2016. Election Day. Thank goodness this election is soon
over! Worked on boat chores, organized
maintenance records, log, etc. Lisa and
Margaret (Jaz) shopping. Down
Time (Roger and Connie) come to visit with new puppy (Bosun) a Australian
Shepherd/Poodle mix. Neat puppy. George,
the mini poodle they had on the boat last winter has passed on.
Talked
to Catalina. They were most helpful.
Ordered new window and adhesive. They
will ship it to Vero, hopefully there while we are. Dinner at Hurricane patty’s
with Jaz. We shove off tomorrow and they will be
leaving for Hawaii soon.
 |
| Chris and Margaret (Jaz) and Us |
Wednesday, November 9, 2016. Rain this
morning. 72 degrees. Waiting for the
tide. 10:10am off the dock, dead low
tide, still raining. Our backup iPod is
dead. This is the one we have all our
music saved to. Luckily we have another
backup! Lisa manages to slip and fall
down the companionway steps. Wrong shoes
and it is wet. She is Ok, but sore and
has some nice coloration.
10:30am
we turn into the ICW from the San Sebastian River. Several boats are stacked against the 312
Bridge abutments. A crane on a barge is
there trying to remove them. Most of Old
Town had 1 ½ feet of water from Mathew, as did the office, laundry, etc. at
Rivers Edge. Hurricane Patty’s did too,
but they are back open.
12:125pm
Successfully past Matanzas Inlet. Plenty
of water as long as you pay attention to the channel markers (which may be
different from the chart or electronic chart).
5:30pm
Main Street Bridge, Daytona
5:45pm
Memorial Bridge is gone, being dismantled.
6:00pm,
Lindley Anchorage, east side of the ICW between R44 and G45. We are over next to the docks. 64SM 51NM today. MM832.
29°11.61’N 080°59.95’W
Thursday, November 10, 2016. Sunny and
cool – 60 degrees. Wind NE@5-10. 8:00am, anchor up. We saw Troubadour
and spoke to them on the VHF. They are
headed back to the Bahamas also. We met
them last year in Marsh Harbor. They had
just purchased the boat. We also saw them while we were in Brunswick. We also heard Providence on the radio and spoke with them also. We have met them on both of the previous
trips to Abacos.
9:30am
New Smyrna Beach corner – always a problem – Greenstone was aground here last year. No issues this year. Past at mid tide and had 7 ½ feet of water at
the skinniest point in the center of the channel.
10:00am
Coronado Beach (aka George Munson) Bridge.
10:30am
Mosquito Lagoon, south of New Smyrna – the local Sherriff is stopping boats to
inspect heads. They asked Providence and Troubadour, if theirs were
sealed (you can’t pump directly overboard), skipped us, then stopped a big
catamaran and were writing them a citation as we passed by.
1:30pm
Haulover Canal Bridge at Cape Canaveral.
Providence and Sea Turtle stop at Titusville.
2:00
Racing for the bridge at Addison Point (aka NASA Causeway). The bridge does not open between 3:30pm and
5:30pm during the week. Troubadour, is with us. Foresail out, engine at full, making 7 ½
knots over the ground against the tide.
Flying for us!
3:25pm
we make it through the Addison Point Bridge. Troubadour anchors close to the park in Cocoa so they can walk
their dog and we continue on a bit.
4:00pm We anchor at Georgiana Anchorage close
to the east shore of the iCW (west shore of Merritt Island). The water is deep here almost all the way to
the shore and the wind is coming out of the east, so this is well protected. We have anchored in this area before. 61SM 49NM today, MM904. 28°17.05’N
080°40.76’W
Friday November 11, 2016. 8:15am Anchor up. Cool and clear 65 degrees. Beautiful day, sunny, not much wind, but
right on our nose!
2:30pm
we are on the fuel dock at Vero Beach.
44 gallons
3:00pm
we are on mooring 51 way down the north end of the mooring field. We say Cygnet
(Bob and Cheslea) as we passed by. We
have known them for a long time. They
are still members of Jubilee Yacht Club in Beverly, MA, where we met them.
5:50pm
Pegasus comes in. Dalmatian
is here also.
Good
news, Catalina called and they are shipping our window here today!
50SM
40NM today. MM952. 27°39.79’N 080°23.38’W
Lisa
made a nice dinner with a port loin and vegies in an oven bag. The only problem is the oven did not want to
stay lit. Looks to be the thermal
switch, but will have to explore the issue tomorrow.
Saturday, November 12, 2016. Beautiful
day – 60 degrees in the morning, 80 degrees by 2 in the afternoon. Wind NE@10, dry, not humid. We ran the generator for the first time this
trip and it overheated, steam coming out of the exhaust! Checked all hoses,
impeller and intake, raw water filter. I
took the heat exchanger apart and cleaned a bunch of pieces of zincs out of
it. There is a pencil (sized) zinc that
fits into the heat exchanger to protect the engine from electrolysis and over
time pieces have come off and collected, clogging the exchanger (where the cool
sea water cools the coolant in the engine – essentially a water cooled
radiator). Pete Brocker came by with a
pick for me to use and some advice – always appreciated. After re-assembling
the whole thing, the engine still refuses to run (high water heat sensor keeps
shutting down the engine). I replaced
the high water temp sensor and the generator runs great. This is a common problem when an engine
overheats – the temp sensor gets cooked.
We had that happen with the truck on the way out to Utah this summer.
George
and Bev Major came by. They have a home
in Riviera. We had an early dinner at
Mulligans on the beach. Nice visit.
Sunday, November 13, 2016. Another beautiful day. We rented a car and
drove up to Cocoa to visit Lisa’s Uncle Franny.
He has been having medical issues, but seemed more ambulatory than when
we last saw him. He recently had a
procedure on his neck to relieve the pain he was experiencing, but it hasn’t
worked to relieve it yet. A short visit,
but we are glad we got to visit with him and Virginia.
We
took advantage of having the car to go bulk shopping at Walmart (water, beer,
wine, soda, etc.) We had also talked to
the nurses at both Black Point and Staniel Cay about supplies they may need to
replenish after Hurricane Mathew. We
bought some of these to carry there for them while a Walmart.
Monday, November 14, 2016. Still another
beautiful day! Lisa went ashore to do
laundry. I worked on figuring out the stove.
There is a website with a trouble shooting guide for Princess stoves. After following that, taking the burner
assembly apart and cleaning everything, the stove is back working! I then cleaned the oven, under the stove top,
the top burners, and behind and around the stove. What a job that turned out to be! Rain in the
afternoon. Dinner on board.
Tuesday, November 14, 2016. Rain in the
morning, then cloudy and humid.
The
free bus has a new schedule and route.
Lisa and I got on and were almost immediately dropped off at the
park. We were supposed to meet another
bus to go towards the beach, but…………..
We walked. Stopped at the post
office and went to lunch at Casey’s Place – a small outdoor (seating)
restaurant with great burgers and sandwiches at great prices. We walked back to the boat stopping at the
hardware store.
Wednesday, November 15, 2016. My laptop has been acting up. It started last year on the boat – the screen
will start flickering. If I turn it off, after a while it seems to work fine
again. I had it checked while we were
home this summer when it started acting up again and was told it is the
graphics card. Either there is a bad
connection (intermittently) or the graphics card itself is going or ?????. The could not isolate the problem while in
the shop and, of course, it worked fine while there. It happened again before we left and I
inadvertently dropped the machine and it started working again. Well its acting up again. Jim on Salty
Paws told me that he had the same issue and the techs at Office depot were
able to replace his graphics board and no more issues! I Googled Offed Depot and there is one on the
Miracle Mile, which is next to Publix. I
can take the free bus over there. So, I
load up the computer and catch the bus.
The bus now has a new schedule and a new route, so this is going to be
challenge. After finally getting to
where Google says the store is – it isn’t there! They moved out by Walmart which is 5 miles
farther away! I called and talked to the
tech there and he said many times they can fix the issue, but this laptop is 8
years old and the parts are no longer available. This would have neem nice to know before the
trek! Sort of a wasted morning
I
spent the afternoon making “Jim Bade’s New Orleans Red Beans and Rice” recipe
below. Actually, we soaked the beans
last night, then I actually started the cooking process this afternoon. It makes a bunch and we plan to take it to
the sundowner/happy hour tomorrow. There
are supposed to be lots of folks going and Jim and Bentley (Salty Paws), as well as some others are
going to bring their instruments and supply music.
Thursday, November 16, 2016. I completed the beans, made the rice,
chopped the onions for the garnish. I
made a run to Publix (on the bus with the unreliable schedule) to pick up
disposable bowls, spoons and good bread for this evening as well as other food
stuffs. At 4:00pm the festivities
began. There indeed were lots of people,
food and music. At the end of the event,
all the beans were gone! Stan and Judy
(formerly Rhumb Runner, now Cruisers Living on Dirt - CLODS), that we have
known for too many years, now have a place in Vero, came too! Nice to see them! They were amazed how many people they knew
from their cruising days!
Friday, November 17, 2016. The aft
toilet has decided it no longer wants to pump out. So today is spent replacing the pump with a
new one, then rebuilding the old one, as well as another old spare aboard. I had the parts and now we have two brand new
head pumps in the spares. We also
replaced the vent filters on the two holding tanks. Fun day!
But no more smelly head odor!
After
all this smelly work, we went ashore for nice long, hot showers. Dinner was at Riverside with Seeker (who came in today) (Kathy and
Earl), and Nightengale (Grant and
Libby). Nice evening!
Saturday, November 18, 2016. A
beautiful day today. Lisa walked to the Farmer’s Market with Seeker (Earl and Kathy) and Flying Pig (Skip and Lydia). Stan and I went to Panera Bread for a bagel
and coffee and then to Sturgis Lumber. I
want to build a wooden box for the socket sets, torque wrench, etc. and want
boards (mahogany or teak) to replace the support boards for the jerry cans we
carry on deck. The current ones a
rotting (they are oak). Stan is looking for oak to complete a desk he is
working on. After we get the wood, we go
to Vero Beach Millworks, where they cut
everything to size. Stan left his there
for them to mill as well.
When
we returned to the boat, Melinda Kay
(Doug and Barb) was rafted to us. We had
met them previously and it was nice to see them again. When the mooring field here gets full, boats
are rafted two or three to a mooring.
Sunday, November 20, 2016. Cleared out the rear lazerrete and the
storage locker so we could work on the generator and engine. Pete is coming tomorrow to help with
completing the 600 service on each.
Dinner on board Seeker with Dalmation (Tom and Mary Lou) and Tomera (Scott and Kitty) Scott and Kitty presented a slide show of
their around the world trip (1987-1991) with their two boys. Very interesting and informative.
Monday, November 21, 2016. 45 degrees
this morning! Clear and cold. Pete comes
by and we change the injectors on both the engine and the generator, re-torque
the heads and reset the clearances on the valves. He also re-packed the packing gland on the
prop shaft. I packaged up the injectors we removed and sent them off to Winter
Island Yacht Yard in Salem, who will have them tested and rebuilt as
necessary. When they are returned, they
will go into the spares for next time.
Dinner
was at Mr. Manatees. It is $5 burger
night. They also have a 1 lb. Burger
(with fries). If you can eat the whole
thing (including the fries), you get a free T-shirt. Not sure if you have to pay for the burger if
you eat the whole thing. Skip (Flying Pig) and Grant (Nightingale) managed to get all that
food down – and keep it down – both big guys!
There were 20 people at the table – noisy, but a fun evening (Lisa and I
just had regular size burgers). Present
were:
Rhiannon (Lisa and I)
Seeker (Earl and Kathy)
Elle and I (Lawrence and Elaine)
Nightingale (Grant and Libby)
Salty Paws (Jim and Bentley)
Flying Pig (Skip and Lydia)
Tomera (Scott and Kitty)
Barefoot (John)
Dalmatian (Tom and Mary Lou)
Briana (Carol)
Collette (Bill and Sue)
 |
| $5 Hamburger Night at Mr. Manatees |
Tuesday, November 22, 2016. Errands this morning, getting stuff for
Thanksgiving. We are invited to Stan and
Judy’s, where there will be several other (former) cruising couples. I am making cranberry salad – see recipe
below and we bought a pecan pie to take.
The salad has to be frozen and Stan said he would come by to get it.
Cygnet left today. Maybe we will see
them in the Exumas. Love and Luck comes
in (Bob and Denise). He is having
trouble getting his outboard to run, so I go over to see if I can help. Now that I am an expert. No luck.
Lisa winds up ferrying them back and forth to shore. Bob decides to wait until they get to
Marathon to have someone look at the engine.
Seeker
drove home today to North Carolina for Thanksgiving. Hopefully, we will see them before we leave
Vero. They are talking about going to
the Bahamas also!
We
had dinner with Pete and his friend Nancy at Taj Mahal Masala in downtown
Vero. Very nice Indian restaurant and
the food was good, the company also. It
was nice to meet Nancy after hearing about her all the years.
Wednesday, November 23, 2016. Lisa walked with Seeker, I made the cranberry
salad and then met Stan ashore. He took
it to his house to put in the freezer for tomorrow. Whisper
(Vic and Marilyn, Newfoundlanders) comes in.
We have met them twice in Bimini.
Great to see them. Vic is having
engine issues and we try to kibitz on it.
His engine was on its last legs, so he bought a used Yanmar and it ran
great until yesterday. I was able to find Operations, Service and Parts manuals for the
engine online and sent them to him. I
also managed to print the Operations manual for him. Dinner on board after a complete scrubbing in
the shower!
Thursday, November 24, 2016. Thanksgiving.
Another beautiful day! What a run of
nice weather! Stan picked us up at
10:00am. He told me to bring my tool box
project and I could use his workbench while dinner was being prepared. I managed to get it all assembled! Nice. There were four other couples present
including Judy’s brother Gene, who also now lives in Vero. The food was great and the company was
too. We are back to the boat by 5:00pm. A very nice Thanksgiving – Thank you Stan and
Judy!
Friday, November 25, 2016. Cool and a bit windy, partly cloudy – a nice
day, but not perfect! Lisa went to the
beach with Elle and I (Lawrence and Elaine) and Dalmatian (Tom and Mary Lou). I stayed and varnished the tool box, cut the
mahogany boards to length, and put a coat of varnish on them. I did some more research for Vic on his
Yanmar, but almost everything is closed today, so it is tough to talk to anyone.
There
is a small sundowner today. Traditionally,
the folks who live aboard full time at the marina do not mix socially with the
transients. Not sure why, but there are
exceptions to this. Lisa has no
boundaries with whom she will befriend (is that correct English?). Anyway, we wound up at a table tonight with
Pete, George, Don and his wife, and Carol (residents) and Dalmatian (Tom and
Mary Lou) and Flying Pig (Skip and Lydia).
Nice evening.
 |
| Sunset at Vero Beach City Marina |
Our
microwave has started a constant buzzing when supplied with 120V AC. These machines typically do not like
inverters as inverters normally put out a “square wave” as opposed to a “sine
wave” (as taught me by friend and electrical guru George Barlow). Anyway after a time, the microwave croaks on
the square wave. I also only paid $69
for this machine at Walmart three yeas ago.
So, we ordered a new one from Amazon, which managed to arrive this
morning. Today was spent dismounting to
old one, mounting and testing the new one – voila!
Lisa
put another coat of varnish on the jerry can boards, cleaned the cabin. I made a last minute grocery run. Tonight, we make steak, potatoes and green
beans for dinner. Vic and Marilyn Whisper)
are guests. Very nice day and evening!
Sunday, November 27, 2016. Off the mooring at 7:15am. Partly cloudy, 65
degrees. It is supposed to be very
windy, but now it is still calm.
7:30am
After passing under the bridge next to the marina, we run aground. We are just outside the channel and it is
only four feet deep. A guy named Mike in
a center console (with his 2 year old daughter Harper and their dog Milo) tried
to pull us free. Luckily, the tide was
still coming in (although almost at high – and it is only 2 feet). Between the
tide and Mike, we were able to spin off and be on our way. Pete even came out to lend assistance, but we
were already off. I’m glad we got this
out of the way early in the trip!
9:45am
Fort Pierce North Bridge (MM965)
10:45am
Wind now SE@10.
11:40am
MM980 wind now SE@15
1:45pm
Hobe Sound Bridge
2:00pm
It has now clouded over completely – rain showers as we approach Jupiter Inlet.
2:30pm
707 Bridge (on request)
2:45pm
Jupiter Federal Bridge (on request)
3pm
Indiantown Road Bridge – the operator was kind enough to hold the opening a
couple of minutes for us.
3:30pm
Donald Ross Bridge
3:40pm
MM1010
4:00pm
PGA Blvd Bridge
4:15pm
Parker Bridge
4:30pm
Anchor down in North Lake Worth.
66.5SM 52.8NM today.
MM1014 4 on request bridges, 4
scheduled bridges
26°50.24’N 080°31.16’W
We
left Vero at just about high tide and had a fair or neutral tide all day –
nice!
Dinner
on board. Wind continues to build from
the SE overnight.
Monday, November 28, 2016. 7:00am. Cloudy looks like rain. Wind SE 15-20. We put 11 gallons of diesel in the tank from
the jerry cans. While yesterday we had a
fair tide, today we are pushing against the tide and this stiff southeaster. As
we pass the inlet at Lake Worth, the winds are 25-30 and gusty. Glad we are not outside for this.
9:15am
We make the hourly opening of Flagler Memorial Bridge. The operator tells us that it will continue
to only open once an hour at a quarter past until the new bridge under
construction is operational.
9:30am
Royal Park Bridge
9:50am
Southern Blvd Bridge – help 5 minutes for us!
Be aware, Trumps Miralago is just north of this bridge on the ocean
side. It is clearly visible from the
ICW. This will be a problem whenever he
is there, but no security is visible today. Wind continues to blow at 25+ SE
10:30am
Lake Ave Bridge – on request
10:40am
MM1030
11:00am
Lantana Bridge
11:30am
Ocean Ave. Bridge
11:43am
SE 14th Street Bridge – on request
12:08pm
George Bush Bridge – on request
12:15pmAtlantic
Ave Bridge
12:22pm
MM1040
12:30pm
Linton Blvd Bridge
1:00pm
Spanish River Blvd Bridge
1:30pm
Palmetto Park Bridge
1:40pm
Camino Real Bridge
2:00pm
Hillsboro Blvd Bridge
2:45pm
NE 14th Street Bridge
3:00pm
Atlantic Blvd Bridge – huge iguanas sunning themselves on the bridge fenders –
they are orange – do they change colors – green when they are in the trees?
3:30pm
Commercial Blvd Bridge – Fort Lauderdale City Limits – more iguanas
3:45pm
Oakland Park Bridge
4:00pm
Sunrise Bridge – there are no cruising boats anchored in Sunrise Lake, Lettuce
Lake or Lake Santa Barbara. Anchoring is
not allowed overnight anymore in Middle River and we did not see any boats
there.
4:15pm
Las Olas Bridge – the marina here is full and on the other side of the bridge,
all the mooring balls are taken.
4:30pm
Anchor down in Lake Sylvia. Very protected. You can feel and hear the
wind, still at SW20-25, but the boat is still.
About 20 boats here. Some
current, so you have to check the anchor when the tide changes, but after two
attempts to get the boat where we wanted it, we are comfortable.
50.5SM 40NM today. 19 scheduled bridges and 2 on request today. MM1065
Unlike other trips, the bridge tenders were very co-operative today. 26°06.33’N 080°06.67’W
Tuesday, November 29, 2016. Today was spent working on this blog. Lisa worked on a patch for a zipper that has
come loose on the dodger, worked on the new boards for the jerry cans and then
made a nice spaghetti dinner. The wind
is still howling out of the southeast.
We will watch the weather for an opportunity to move down to Miami and
then over to Bimini.
Wednesday, November 30, 2016. Wind still howling and occasional
showers, very humid. Today we just hung
out, reading, working on the blog, cleaning.
Thursday, December 1, 2016. Grey,
humid, 75 degrees, wind still out of the SE at 15-20. We have to go outside (in the ocean) from
here and the direction is pretty much southeast, so we will wait another
day. Once the wind dies off, we still
have to wait a day for the rough seas to subside. The wind is supposed to subside today.
Lisa
finished the last coat of varnish on the new starboard side jerry can
board. Because it is so humid, it takes
forever for it to dry. We installed the
new one on the port side.
We
took the dingy to the Raw Bar, which is at the far west end of one of the many
canals here. We had to cross the main
thoroughfare on the way. There is always
a lot of boat traffic and we were dodging large yachts and commercial vessels –
interesting. There is really no place
close to land a dingy at Lake Sylvia, which is maybe its only downfall as an
anchorage.
We
had lunch at the Raw Bar – the food was good – burgers. We then Ubered to Michaels so Lisa could
replenish her craft supplies before we head to the Bahamas. Then on the the Dollar Tree to load up on
cosmetology supplies for the school in Bimini.
We have received a request from Wesley Rolle, the Principal of the
Louise MacDonald All Age School in Bimini concerning supplies and equipment
they need. We will pass that along to
everyone in an email.
The
final stop of the day was at the Winn-Dixie grocery (across from the Raw Bar) and then
back to the dingy and back to the boat.
The skies look very ominous as we lift the dingy and motor back
aboard. Then it rains buckets full!
We
had considered crossing to Bimini directly from here, but the weather window
seems to be closing. Heavy rain
overnight.
Friday, December 2, 2016. At 5:30am, we
check the weather and the wind has already begun to shift to the north at
10-15. This will make crossing the gulf
stream very rough (wind from one direction, current from the opposite – makes
for big waves). However, if we stay
fairly close to shore, it should make an easy run outside down to Miami. It is
still raining. We decide to wait for
this set of showers to pass and go back to bed.
By
9:30am, the skis are brightening, the wind is N @ 10-15 as predicted. We lift the anchor and head for the 17th
Street Bridge, the last one we will have to deal with opening.
10:00am,
we are outside headed south. The winds
are on our stern and are dying off somewhat.
We are also running with the wind, so they are having little effect on
us as we are moving about the same speed as the wind.
Noon,
we are 3 miles offshore and the skies are brightening.
1:00pm,
we enter Government Cut in Miami. The
sun is coming out! The weather is always
great in Miami!
3:00pm,
we are at the fuel dock at Crandon Park on Key Biscayne. We put on 18 gallons of diesel and filled with water,
then head to No Name Harbor. Crandon Park is MM 1094.
4:00pm
Anchor down in No Name Harbor (part of Bill Baggs State Park). Rain in the
distance. There are very few boats here,
which is unusual. Two of the boats here
are So Far, So Good and Cantabile.
 |
| Key Biscayne Lighthouse |
33SM 27NM
MM1096 25°40.58’N 080°09.75’W
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