Sunday, March 31,
2019. There is a ship parked on the other of the canal named Ocean Breeze. It is one of the tankers used to service the
islands (like Staniel Cay). It is being
decommissioned and is going to be sunk to create a new reef. It is now owned by
the local dive shop. The folks working
on it asked if we could move some boats around so they can get Ocean Breeze past Wardle’s as they are
taking her out to her final resting place today. So at 7:00am we are out on the
boats and docks with Moon Pie and
moving boats (specifically Valda III
that is sort of hanging out in the middle of the canal) so they can get Ocean Breeze out to sea and her final
resting place.
7:45am We are off the dock along with Moon Pie starting our long crossing to the US. The weather is supposed to be good for the
next 36-48 hours. 65 degrees, mostly
clear, wind S@5.
8:15am We turn north out of the channel to Coral Harbour
heading to West Bay, NP. We are motor
sailing with the main up, easily making 6 knots. We hear Summer
of 42 on the VHF as he is leaving Nassau Harbour with Charlie Papa and Pea Pod. We are able to talk to him and they are
headed the same way we are, so we will keep in touch as we cross.
9:00am We pass the west end (West Bay) of New Providence
Island headed to the Northwest Channel.
We are in deep water (7000+ feet deep) and we have two fishing lines
out. It would be nice to catch a nice
Mahi or Wahoo while we are out here.
9:15am Lisa takes over the helm.
12:00noon Big gentle rollers as we cross the Tongue of the
Ocean. 75 degrees, big puffy clouds on the horizon. Still motor sailing at 6 knots. I made
tuna-fish salad for lunch. Moon Pie is having issues with their
auto-pilot. It seems to stop working
sporadically. They tried to re-calibrate
it, re-boot it, but nothing seems to be helping. I suggested in the short term, they change
the ‘response” setting (which controls how much the unit allows the boat to
stray off course before correcting).
This seems to have helped.
1:27pm Benny takes over at the helm.
2:00pm We talked to Summer of 42 again. They are heading to North Rock at Bimini,
then westward to find the Gulf Stream, then they will turn north to Lake
Worth. We have caught up to them, and
are, in fact, only a couple of hundred yards behind them. We plan to head farther north to Hens and
Chickens and then across to Lake Worth.
I guess we will find out which strategy is the better (faster) one. Summer
of 42 actually has 12 miles farther to go than we do, but he will be
faster, especially if he can stay in the Gulf Stream.
3:50pm We pass the NW Channel way point, completing the
first leg of the crossing (49NM). We saw
Wabasi heading west. We raised them on the VHF and they are headed
to the Exumas after having to return to Florida to have a rudder repaired. We met them in Bimini 2 years ago.
It is very flat, 82 degrees, wind N@5. We are now “on the banks” and the water is
about 15 feet deep, crystal clear, like a swimming pool. You can see everything on the bottom.
4:30pm We pass NW Shoal waypoint, completing the second (and
shortest) leg of the crossing (4.9NM). Three mega yachts passed heading west,
all three throwing huge wakes.
5:10pm We passed Cape
Express, a roll-on, roll-off ship carrying truck trailers. This ship comes out of Fort Lauderdale and is
the same type that came into Rock Sound at 3:00am.
5:30pm We saw a huge sea turtle surface multiple times
almost right next to us.
8:45pm We pass Mackie Shoal waypoint. Summer of 42 continues west to North Rock and
we turn north toward Hens and Chickens. This completes the third leg of the
crossing (24.8NM).
 |
| Summer of 42 headed for North Bimini |
9:00pm we see and talk to a large tug (Champion) pulling a barge headed west along our course. We alter course more to the north to give him
plenty of sea room.
10:00pm A large
fishing boat passes to our north.
12:45am Monday, April
1, 2019. As we approach Hens and Chickens (really just a bunch of rocks on
the edge of the Banks) we can see a couple of cruise ships heading south to
Miami, a tanker that is anchored just north of Hens and Chickens, and a large
freighter all lit up with mercury vapor lights also anchored in the same
area. Ships do this as they wait for a berth
in Fort Lauderdale, Miami or Freeport.
2:00am We pass the Hens and Chickens waypoint, completing
the fourth leg of the crossing (31.7NM). Lisa takes over the helm. A cruise
ship passes our bow. Lots of vessels on radar.
We don’t have AIS (Automated (vessel) Information System) which receives
information from an AIS transmitter giving information about the vessel, speed,
course, etc. Moon Pie has an AIS receiver.
We have radar, which gives us all the same information except for the
specifics about the vessel (name, size, etc.).
Between our two boats, we can pretty well determine all there is to know
about a “target”, and there are plenty of “targets” out here.
The seas out here are confused, waves coming from all
directions. There is little wind, but
there are tidal currents running on and off the banks, currents running north
and south along the drop off to deep water and then the Gulf Stream itself.
5:00am Moon rise, but it is only a sliver. The seas have
settled, the wind calm. I am back on the helm.
6:30am Sun rise. Nice
to have some visibility again. The wind
has picked up a bit, SE@10. Seas only a 2 foot chop.
9:00am Lisa on the helm.
12:00noon Benny on the helm.
Approaching Lake Worth.
12:45pm Lake Worth Inlet.
Apparently, there was a boat show in West Palm Beach over the
week-end. There is a parade of boats
(all brand new) leaving the inlet at full speed, ignoring the slow speed
signs. There is a small boat right in
the middle of the channel loaded with photographers and a film crew taking
photos and videos of the boats as they come out. It is very rough as the jetties on either
side of the inlet reflect back these huge wakes being generated by the boats coming
out at speed. What a horror show! There
is always something crazy going on at this inlet!
Leg 5 of the trip is complete (67.1NM). Partly cloudy, wind
W@10-12, 72 degrees.
1:45pm Anchor down at North Lake Worth. This completes the 6th
and final leg of the crossing (5.7NM). Total for the crossing 184.2NM, 29.5
hours, average speed 6.25 knots, AICW MM 1014, 26°50.24’N 080°03.19’W
Nap Time!
4:00pm We filled out
all the information for the new US Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) ROAM App on
our android phone. This App is supposed
to replace the Small Vessel Reporting System (SVRS) previously in place. The SVRS system required you to fill out a
bunch of forms, have a background check performed, and then physically go to a
facility where they could verify all your information, plus make sure you were
who your passport said you were. The new
ROAM App does this online and uses a video link so the Immigration Officer can
see who you are. So we put in all the information and received a message saying
it was being reviewed. 10 minutes later
we received a message saying we were cleared to enter the USA. Great, we are already here. What happens if you don’t get approval? What happens if you don’t “check in”. There is no “check out” for US citizens, so
how do they even know you were gone?
Dinner on board.
Leftover chicken and pear curry over mashed potatoes. Easy and delicious. Early to bed.
Rain and wind late and overnight.
Moon Pie, Summer of
42, Charlie Papa and 10 other boats here tonight. Tai Ann comes in and anchors right in front of us. They are not 40 feet away. We will never understand why people do that
when there is acres of empty water in which to anchor.
Tuesday, April 2,
2019.
6:30am FOG, ¼ mile visibility, cool, 60 degrees. We decide to delay departure.
7:30am fog clearing as the sun comes up. Summer of 42, Zafu, Charlie Papa and Moon Pie depart with us. One of the
times we were at Cambridge Cay, Zafu
was there. He is single handling and had
lost his dinghy. One of the mega yachts
sent their center cockpit tender to retrieve it for him. Nice.
8:15am Parker Bridge – scheduled.
8:30am PGA Blvd Bridge – scheduled. The sun is out, big
puffy clouds, 72 degrees, wind W@10, beautiful day.
9:00am Donald Ross Bridge – scheduled.
9:30am Indiantown Road Bridge – scheduled.
9:48am Jupiter Federal Bridge – on request.
10:00am 707 Bridge – on request.
11:10am Hobe Sound Bridge – on request.
11:40am Peck Lake. 8
boats anchored here. Clouding over, 70
degrees, wind W@10, looks like rain.
2:30pm Rain and thunder, only lasts 30 minutes. We were sailing before the rain, now there is
no wind and it is very humid. The
squalls look like they are moving south and east away from us.
4:00pm Fort Pierce North Bridge – scheduled.
6:40pm on mooring 22 at Vero Beach City Marina. Moon
Pie, Summer of 42 here. Altoona and Albertross, who we met at Wardle’s, here too. Also, 5
and Dime, Gabrial, Compass Rose and Flying
Pig are here.
62SM 50NM 27.39.56'N 080.22.23'W MM952
Dinner on board and early to bed.
Wednesday, April 3,
2019. Cloudy, 65 degrees, wind NE@15. Albertross and several other boats
depart. We checked in at the Marina
office. Tim, harbormaster, is gone and
has been replaced. We picked up mail and packages that were waiting for us.
We called Hertz and made arrangement for a car rental to
drive home. They have a program in the
spring which allows you to rent a car for $8 a day is you drive it north and
drop it off. Nice.
We dinghied over to Manatee’s with Moon Pie and Summer of 42
for dinner. Afterward, we walked to the
beach to get orange ice cream, but it was closed (closes at 7 during the week),
so we went to Cravings instead. Cravings
is the only ice cream shop I have ever been to that weighs your ice cream to
determine the cost.
Thursday, April 4,
2019. Lovely morning, but cool, 65 degrees.
Almost no wind. Clear. Moon Pie and
several other boats, including Summer of
42, depart heading north.
I spent the day typing (trying to catch up), Lisa did
laundry.
Nightingale comes
in. Great to see them again.
4:00pm Coctails at the tiki hut. Stan and Judy came by. Not a lot of people at the event. We went to
dinner with them to Mulligan’s on the beach.
We had to wait 30 minutes for a table, even tho’ there were 8
empty. The hostess said they were being
held for reservations. 6 were still
empty when we left. I ordered a flat
bread pizza, which came out cold. I sent
it back and they re-heated it. It tasted
like re-heated pizza. Not the best meal we have ever had there.
Friday, April 5,
2019. Cloudy and cool. No wind, 65 degrees. It rained most of the
afternoon, sometimes heavily. We opened
the water tank and hopefully filled them.
Boat chores, worked on the blog, Lisa worked on baskets. Dinner on
board.
Saturday, April 6,
2019 – Saturday, April 13, 2019 There is a family of porpoises that live in
the lagoon where the marina is located.
They will “push” fish up against the seawall by the condos north of the
marina to feed. The adults teach the
young ones how to do this. Now a couple
of pelicans have taken to fishing when the porpoises are feeding. When the
porpoises are playing they will bump into the floating pelicans. Fun to watch.
On Saturday, we had an early dinner with Bev and George
(Lisa’s uncle) at Mulligans. The service
and food was still not very good.
 |
| George and Bev at Mulligan's |
We found that the generator was overheating and then
shutting down (like it is supposed to do).
When we took the raw water pump apart, we found the rubber impeller had
disintegrated. We replaced the impeller and the genset overheated again. When we checked the impeller, the new one was
disintegrated as well. This time the pump
was leaking water out of the body of the pump.
On Sunday, we were going to replace the pump with the old
pump we kept as a spare. You may
remember that in 2013, we had to replace this pump, as the pulley fell
apart. We repaired the pulley using epoxy
and a couple of nuts and bolts and kept it as a spare. We checked the impeller on this pump before
we installed it and found that the impeller had dried out. The center of the impeller is metal and it
had seized to the shaft. Bummer.
 |
| Genset raw water pump and what's left of the impeller |
We went to an estate auction. There are lots of these in Florida. Lisa found a pair of earrings that match her
ring which she bought at an auction here in Vero in the fall.
On Monday, we called Whiticar Marine to get a new pump. They
said they could have one tomorrow. In
the meantime, we went to NAPA (Pete lent us his car) and got new hoses and more
antifreeze. We replaced both the input
and output hoses to the pump and took the heat exchanger off and cleaned it out
by running water through it in the opposite direction. Lots of pieces of rubber came out.
On Tuesday, (Grant and I) drove down to Fort Pierce and
picked up the new pump. We also stopped
by Marine Liquidators, always a fun place to visit and see what you can find.
Wednesday, we re-assembled everything, and the genset
overheated again! This time, we took the whole raw water system apart. We removed and cleaned the intake hose which
goes from outside the hull to the raw water strainer. We cleaned out the sea water strainer and the
hose from the strainer to the genset case.
The new hose from the genset case to the raw (sea) water pump is full of
what looks like powdered rubber. We
cleaned that out. The impeller in the pump is also chewed up. We replaced that.
The hose from the pump to the heat exchanger is plugged. We cleaned that out. We removed the heat exchanger. We forced water through it with a high
pressure hose and got still more junk out of it. Then we poured muriatic acid through it (both
the sea water and the fresh water sides).
More junk came out. We did this
three times until nothing else came out of the exchanger. The heat exchanger has a zinc in it. We
removed that and and cleaned out any pieces of zinc in the exchanger. We
checked the hose that goes from the heat exchanger to the exhaust and it was
clear.
 |
| The genset heat exchanger |
Thursday, we put everything back together and the water now
flows freely through the whole system and the genset runs without
overheating. However, the new pump is
making a lot of noise. It sounds like we
may have burnt up a bearing!
 |
| Working on the genset (it's under the cockpit floor) |
I called
Whiticar and ordered another pump. They
will ship it to River’s Edge in Saint Augustine and we will pick it up there on
our way to Saint Mary’s.
Friday, we changed the oil, oil filter and fuel filter on
the main engine. While we were doing
this, we noticed that the pulley on the alternator is “wobbling” and you can
hear a “ching,ching,ching”. We called Mike Gianotti, who installed our new
electrical system a couple of years ago.
Once we haul out we will remove the alternator and Mike will see about
getting it rebuilt or replaced.
Sunday, April 14,
2019. We had a very nice dinner with Nightingale
(Grant and Libby) and Pete and Dee. Lovely evening. After dinner, we get
Rhiannon ready to depart tomorrow morning.
When we lifted the dinghy onto the davits, we were amazed at the marine
growth on the bottom, in just under two weeks!
The motor also had a lot of small barnacles. We were able to clean most of them off, but
both the motor and the engine will get a good cleaning when we haul out.
Monday, April 15,
2019. Tax Day. No clouds, 75 degrees, wind NW@10-15. Heavy rain overnight.
7:30am Dropped the mooring and headed over to the fuel dock.
34 gallons of diesel, 100 gallons of water. We paid the bill and checked out.
8:00am We head out of the marina along with Nightingale (who
is hauling out at St. Mary’s on the same day we are). There are 6 other boats
heading north also. There is strong wind
and current on our nose and keeps our speed below 6 knots.
2:40pm Pinelas Causeway Bridge, MM909, no clouds, wind
NW@15-20.
6:30pm Anchor down on the SE side of the Addison Point
Bridge (aka NASA Causeway). Nightingale
here too. One other boat. 67SM, 54NM
today, MM885, 28°31.48’N 080°45.23’W
Tuesday, April 16,
2019. Clear, cool 60 degrees, wind N@10-15.
7:45am Anchor up.
8:00am Addison Point Bridge with Nightingale and Mojo.
Less wind and current today. Most of the
current (and tide) in the Indian River is “wind driven”. When the wind blow hard out of the north, it
pushes the water south creating a current and a tide as the water builds up in
the southern part of the river. The opposite
is true with a strong south wind.
Motoring at 6+ knots.
9:00am Titusville
9:20am The Railroad bridge to Cape Canaveral.
10:30am Haulover Canal Bridge
10:40am Wind NE@10-15, foresail out, motorsailing@6 knots up
Mosquito Lagoon.
3:00pm We see Hine Rhune
and say hello as we pass Marineland.
 |
| Hine Rhune (L to R: Hazel, Cate and Chris) |
4:15pm Main Street Bridge (Daytona) – on request.
4:45pm Anchor down north of the Sea Breeze Bridge, Daytona.
56SM, 45NM, MM829, 29°14.04’N 081°01.42’W
Nightingale
(anchored near by) came to dinner. Pork chops (chicken for Libby), fresh green
beans, fresh Brussel sprouts, fried plantains. Nightingale brought a nice salad.
Some TOFKA Toffee Vodka after dinner, then early to bed.
Wednesday, April 17,
2019. Clear, puffy clouds, dry, wind
calm, 75 degrees.
7:50am Anchor up, underway north with Nightingale. Saw Blue Moon, from Annapolis, a Pearson 424 that
looks like brand new. Thought it might
be Thunder Gust, owned by Pam and
Jerry. They sold Thunder Gust last
year.
We are motoring with a following current @ 6.8 knots @ 2500
RPM. The current is giving us at least an additional knot of speed this
morning.
9:40am L B Knox Bridge (on request). High thin clouds, no wind, 75 degrees, the
current is now neutral.
1:00pm Crescent Beach Bridge (on request). Clouding over, looks
like rain.
3:00pm On the dock at Rivers Edge Marina, St.
Augustine. Paul is there to catch our
lines, great to see him again. There are
Rosette Spoonbills looking for food along the shore across from the
marina. This is the first time we have
ever seen them here.
6:00pm Rain, heavy at times.
Dinner on board.
49SM, 39NM, MM780, 29°53.14’N 081°19.36’W
Lots of new docks as we came up the San Sebastian River.
English Landing Marina (just south of Rivers Edge) is all new.
Thursday, April 18,
2019. Clear, cool, wind E@15.
Beautiful morning. Lisa cleaned the stainless on the boat and did
laundry. Libby and Grant (Nightingale) came by. They are on a mooring at City Marina. Grant
and I walked to Sailor’s Exchange (always an interesting place to browse), then
to TPH Auto Parts to get some antifreeze. Grant headed back downtown, and I
headed back to Rhiannon.
We had lunch at Hurricane Patty’s with Nightingale and Fragile Magic
(Tom and Trish).
Dinner on board.
Paul broke his arm this afternoon. He was helping a boat onto the dock and the
boat was coming in way too fast and Paul managed to get his arm pinned between
the boat and a piling. Ouch! Off to the hospital for x-rays, setting and a
cast. He will be ok.
Friday, April 19, 2019. We walked into town. Partly cloudy
and cool this morning.
We met
Nightingale at Harry’s for a wonderful
lunch.
This is one of our favorite
restaurants here.
 |
| Grant and Libby (Nightingale) and Lisa and I |
As we left the
restaurant, it started to rain.
We
ducked in and out of shops for about an hour, then bought an umbrella and
walked back to the boat in the rain.
The
rain stopped about 6:00pm and we had a light dinner at Hurricane Patty’s with
Fragile Magic.
 |
| Tom and Trish (Fragile Magic) |
Saturday, April 20,
2019. Clear, cool, wind W@15-25, 55 degrees! Lisa filled Rhiannon’s water tanks and worked
on getting a bunch of aphids off the dessert rose we brought home from the
Bahamas (don’t tell the Customs folks). We have sprayed it with Neem, and we
think most of the critters are dead, but she washed them off the plant.
I walked across the street (US1) to the Hair Loft to get a
needed haircut. Usually, they are great,
but this time I would only give them a “C”. Then next door to West Marine for
cleaner wax, then next door once again to Winn Dixie for a few needed grocery
items.
Lisa had her investment club meeting at 4:00pm via skype.
Dinner on board, fresh shrimp and a salad.
Sunday, April 21,
2019. Easter. Clear, cool, 55
degrees, wind W@15. The wind is supposed to go east, but it has not.
9:15am Off the dock at 9:15am with Fragile Magic, heading
north.
10:00am Bridge of Lyons (scheduled on the hour and half
hour).
Once in the Tolmato River north of the harbor, there are
lots of small power boats out for an Easter Sunday ride.
3:00pm St. John’s River. Lots of current heading out to sea,
we are making on 3 knots as we cross the river!
Lots of traffic also. We had to
dodge a huge dredge working in the river and a barge under tow.
3:30pm Sister’s Creek dock.
No room. The boats are spaced
wide apart and there is a barge tied up there as well. It is very windy (gusts from the west at 25),
so trying to get in there and be able to maneuver into the dock would be very
difficult.
4:30pm Anchor down in the St. George River by Kingsley
Plantation. Fragile Magic also here.
Dinner on board, pork chops, shrimp, asparagus and carrots.
Lots of porpoises here.
47SM 38NM MM735
30°26.61’N 081°26.46’W
Monday, April 22,
2019. Clear, cool 50 degrees this morning.
No wind.
Anchor up at 8:45am.
It is half tide and rising, so there should be no issues leaving the St.
George River or heading north towards Fernandina. We expected the tide to be
with us, but it is not. The inflow from
Nassau Sound (to the north) must be greater than the inflow from the St. John’s
River, even tho’ it is closer. Strange how that works sometimes.
Fragile Magic is
with us.
11:30 The infamous Green #1 marker south of Fernandina. They dredged this a couple of years ago and
created a new channel west of the old one, which was right along the east
shore. We see a trawler make the corner
at Green #1 and immediately head toward the old channel. Interesting.
We decide to follow the old channel and had no issues (it is also high
tide). Tried to raise the trawler on the
radio to find out why he altered course to the old channel, but were unable
to. Maybe we will explore this a bit
more in the fall. No notes on Active Captain, but then Garmin isn’t doing
updates to it any more.
12:00 noon Fernandina Beach.
There are still a few boats sunk or up on the shore from hurricane
Matthew. The equipment used to break up
these wrecks is still in place. The
marina looks like repairs to the north side are done. The south side of the marina is totally gone
except for a few pilings. Several barges
are in place. Looks like they are now
working on replacing those docks. The
main dock is also gone on the south side.
The fuel dock is in place, but no pumps and the dock house if not open.
There are still sunken boats in the mooring field. The container terminal is
back in operation and one of the giant cranes has been replaced. The fiber board plant and the paper mill are
going full blast.
1:40pm Anchor down at Cumberland Island (by the north dock,
which looks like it has been rebuilt since Matthew). Last time we were through here, all the docks
were wrecked. The Sea Camp dock (a bit
farther north) looks new. The dock and
sea wall at the south end of the island are under repair. Lots of people here as it is Easter Week and
the school are out. Nightingale, Fragile Magic and 14 other boats are
here.
Wind E@10-15, sunny, no clouds, a cool 70 degrees.
30SM 24NM MM711 30°46.01’N
081°28.33’W
Fragile Magic came to dinner. Lisa made a chicken stew (clean out the
refrigerator) and we have some fresh bread.
Lisa presented Tom and Trish with one of her baskets, and I gave them a
heart bean (for good luck – if you have one on board, the ancient mariners
believed your boat would not sink).
This is Tom and Trish’s first trip south. They came down in the fall with the “Sail to
the Sun Rally”, a group of 17 boats (mostly first timers, led by Wally
Moran). Wally would plan out each day
for the group, including the route, anchorages and marinas. According to Tom, Wally never explained why
they did certain things, only what they needed to do. Anyway, each member is on their own to get
home. So, we spent considerable time this evening going over our notes and
charts with them. We gave them a set of
our spreadsheet log for the last 6 years which shows start and stops each day of
the trip, mileage, anchorages, marinas, and other notes. We also gave them our charts for the trip
north on the ICW to use. Tom said he
would send them back when they got home.
We are basically done travelling this season, only going 8 more miles to
St. Mary’s, GA, so we will not need them for a while.
Tuesday, April 23,
2019. Very cool, 55 degrees, clear, wind NE@10-15. If it is this cool here, we shudder (shiver)
to think how cold it will be when we get home to New Hampshire!
Lisa and I walked the island. You have to land at the south dock and the
trek around the south end of the island is 4.5 miles. As we said previously, it
is Easter Week and there are lots of people coming over on the shuttle boats
from St. Mary’s and all the campsites are full.
We saw lots of wildlife, birds, raccoons, armadillos, horses (including
a couple of brand new folds). We walked
the beach too. We found a few shells,
not many, and no sea beans.
 |
| One of the trails on Cumberland Island |
 |
| Mare and fold on the beach at Cumberland Island |
We talked to Terry and Rocky about our scheduled haul out
tomorrow. Rocky hauled a big catamaran
today, which took the whole tide cycle, so he did not get to haul the other
boat that was scheduled. When he hauls a big cat, he uses a large crane, and it
takes a lot of work to get it hooked up, hauled and blocked.
We heard from Fragile
Magic (they left this morning). They
made it to Jekyll Island Marina today, where they will wait on the tide to get
around Jekyll Island.
Adventure anchored
near us and came for a visit. We first
me Dick and Leigh in 2014 at Vero Beach. Nice to see them again.
Nightingale came
to dinner. Lisa made steak, the last of the tuna that Moon Pie caught on the way to Eleuthera, mixed vegetables and
salad. Very nice evening.
Wednesday, April 24,
2019. Sunny, some high thin clouds, wind S@10, cool 60 degrees.
9:45am We raise the anchor and head west to St. Mary’s. Nightingale
is ahead of us and will be hauled out first.
12:00noon We are in the North River orbiting around waiting
on our turn to be hauled. It is high
tide and Nightingale is out of the
water.
2:00pm Our turn in the slings. When Rhiannon
is out of the water, we see that the bottom paint held up really well. There are two blisters that were repaired
last year that the “patch” has broken loose and will have to be redone. We lost half our line cutter on this
trip. We caught two ropes in it during
the trip, one was the fiasco when the anchor broke loose in Georgetown. The other we are unsure of as when Rhiannon was hauled, there was the
remnants of a nylon rope hanging from the propeller and what is left of the
line cutter.
 |
| Rhiannon being hauled |
4:00pm Enterprise shows up with our rental car. We are again going to rent a Hertz car to
drive north. They have a deal this year
for $8 a day, unlimited mileage if you drive a car one way from Florida to somewhere
north of New Jersey. You can keep the
car for up to two weeks. The only catch
is that we have to rent a car to drive back down to Vero to pick up the Hertz
car.
Dinner with Nightingale
at Riverside Café. The cuisine in
mostly Greek and delicious.
We checked in to the Cumberland Inn and Suited for this
evening.
8SM 6.5NM MM711 30°74.41’N
081°52.45’W
Thursday, April 25,
2019. Cool and clear, 50 degrees this morning. When we get to the boat, it is very wet with
morning dew.
8:00am We meet with Rhonda to go over the work we would like
her to do before we launch in the fall (bottom, clean and wax everywhere,
stainless, compound out the stern, etc.)
9:00am We meet with Terry to discuss the new dodger we want
and other changes to the canvas.
11:00am We leave to drive to Vero Beach to pick up the Hertz
rental car. We spent the night with our
friends Stan and Judy (Rhumb Runner). They are now “CLODS”,
Cruisers Living On Dirt. We have known
them for over 30 years and were members of the same yacht club when we both
lived in Beverly, MA. The made 8 trips
south from Massachusetts to Florida and The Bahamas while they were cruising.
Dinner was hamburgers on the grill. Nice evening.
Friday, April 26,
2019. We drove over to Vero Beach City Marina and dropped off the
alternator for Mike, who is going to
have it checked out and (hopefully) repaired.
We picked up the Hertz car and began the drive back to St. Mary’s. It rained heavily off and on all the way to
the Georgia border. We dropped off the
Enterprise car and headed to the hotel.
Saturday, April 27,
2019 – Monday, April 29, 2019. These
days were spent unloading and cleaning the boat and getting it ready for her
summer lay-up. On Saturday, Terry came by and said she was not going to be able
to do our canvas work, she has too much already on her plate. On Monday, we
were able to reach Top Stitch Canvas in Fernandina. They will have someone come by Tuesday
(morning hopefully) to look at what we want done. We also called Stitches in Darien, who have
done work for us previously, when the boat was laid up in Brunswick. The said if we could get to Brunswick, they
would be able to do it, but St. Mary’s was just too far away.
Fancy Free (Gail and Laura) was hauled today.
Sunday night we had dinner at Saigon Tokyo with Nightingale.
Monday Lisa arranged a cook out at the boat yard, using up some of the food still in the fridge. Attendees included Nightingale, Fancy Free, John (who works at the yard) and a couple of other boats we had not really met. Nice get together.
We heard from Fragile
Magic and they seem to be making good progress on their trip north.
Tuesday, April 30,
2019. We checked out of the hotel and headed to the boat yard. We completed loading the car (Camry) and it
is full! It seems everyone is leaving
today. Nightingale had a Lift pick them
up for the trip the Jacksonville airport.
Fancy Free is driving home a rental also and they stopped by to say
good-bye until the fall.
The canvas guys finally showed up at 2:00pm. The took lots of notes and said Amy would be
getting back to us with estimates (she is the only one allowed to talk prices,
but she stays in the office).
4:00pm We are finally underway for the long drive home. Lots
of traffic (especially trucks) on I95. A
traffic accident closed I95 and we creeped along for more than an hour. We didn’t miss any of this while in the
Bahamas! We stopped for the night in Walterboro, SC. Dinner at Cracker Barrel and stayed at the
Days Inn next door.
Wednesday, May 1,
2019. May Day. Today we drove to our friends Pam and Jerry’s house in
Easton, MD. Another long day. Google
Maps sometimes loses its way and sends you off in a direction only it
understands. It tried that a couple of
times today, but we have driven this route several times and knew when it was
doing that. Lots of traffic on I92 again today, but better once we were on the
non-interstate highways.
We arrived about 7:00pm to dinner waiting and a beautiful
sunset. A nice evening.
Thursday, May 2,
2019. Jerry made us a nice breakfast and we are on the road at 11:00am. We
cross the Bay Bridge and arrive at Jim and Judy’s (Tug-a-Long) in Pasadena, MD, at 1:00pm.
We had dinner at The Bridge. Crab
dishes, always good and huge chocolate covered nutty cones for dessert.
Friday, May 3, 2019. We
are up early, but despite best intentions, we don’t get away until 8:30am. Nice breakfast and conversation delayed our
departure. The traffic today is actually not too bad as we circle around New
York City on the Garden State Parkway. We cross the Hudson on the new Tappan
Zee Bridge. They are dismantling the old
one. We are home at 6:00pm. The dogs
(Lulu and Jake (our foster, now owned officially by our house sitter Brett))
are ecstatic to see us. What a nice
welcome home!
Saturday, May 4,
2019. Back in the car and headed to Billerica, MA, for Lisa’s sister’s
garden wedding. It was originally
scheduled for tomorrow, but with rain predicted, they elected to have it
today. This event is why we are home
this early in May. A very nice affair, mostly family and a few very good
friends. We are back at home by 6:00pm
and soon to bed.
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| Lisa |
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| Lind and Dan |
