Tuesday, November 5,
2019
Lisa and drove down to Billerica, MA, and had dinner with
her parents (Bruce and Jean) and her sister Linda and her nephew Michael. This was our time to spend with them before
Thanksgiving, as we will be somewhere south on the boat on Thanksgiving Day.
Wednesday, November 6,
2019
We spent the night at Lisa’s parents’ and early this morning
(6:00am), Dan ( Lisa’s brother-in-law) drove us to Logan Airport to catch a
flight to Jacksonville. Upon arrival,
some friends on Nightingale (Libby
and Grant) met us a gave us a ride to the Cumberland Inn in St. Mary’s, GA,
which will be where we are staying until we get Rhiannon launched.
Thursday, November 7
– Wednesday 13, 2019. Terry brought
over the new dodger and attaching pieces and did the final fitting. Rhonda and her crew finished polishing the
hull and cabin house. We installed new zincs on the prop and the prop shaft,
installed a new water pump on the generator, installed a new water pump impeller
on the sea water pump on the main engine.
We made several trips to the mail service to pick up packages shipped to
us (parts, etc.). We also made several
trips to Walmart to provision. We mounted the new alternator on the main engine. Then we put
some of the “green slime” into the starboard side tube of the dinghy, and after
rolling the dinghy around and over many times, the leak seems to have been
fixed.
It has been very cold and windy in Georgia this year. Several mornings in the low 40s. Not fun to
be working outside in this weather. We checked out of the hotel and spent the
last night (Wednesday, the 13th) aboard Rhiannon anticipating an early launch tomorrow.
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| Rhiannon in her cradle being moved by Rocky's "mover" |
Thursday, November
14, 2019
Wind NE@10-15, skies are gray and threatening.
10:40am We get our turn in the travel lift. The tides this week are extremely high. We launch at exactly high tide and as we
leave the St. Mary’s River the Navy is doing some sort of exercise with a
submarine and a tender from the Base at King’s Bay.
11:20am We pass Fernandina Marina. It is still being worked on after Hurricane Mathew. They say it is going to be open in March.
2:10pm We see two Bald Eagles fishing.
We talked to Noodin. They launched ahead of us this morning and
are stopping for the night at Palm Cove Marina.
3:20pm Anchor down in the Fort George River
(Jacksonville). Wind NE@15-20. Skies
gray.
MM735 27SM 21.5NM 30°26.55’N 081°26.43’W
Friday November 15,
2019
Heavy rain and wind overnight. Mostly sand bottom here and
the anchor held securely even with the tide shifts and the wind.
7:00am Heavy rain, wind NE@15+. Not as cold this morning as previous mornings
(55 degrees).
8:40am Anchor up, some rain and fog.
9:20am We are crossing the St. John’s River. The new channel
for the ICW on the south side of the river is a bit confusing. They have moved the ICW channel so that is
parallels the shore of the river before it turns south. Plenty of buoys, maybe too many.
9:35am Making 8.5 knots with the incoming tidal push as we
head south on the iCW. No more rain, but a gray dismal day. 60 degrees. Wind NE
@ 5-10.
2:00pm Bridge of Lyons
2:40pm tied up in slip B14 @ Rivers’ Edge Marina. Paul is here to welcome us. Nice.
Jim Foster (Tug-a-Long) is here also.
He is leaving the boat here until January.
MM780 45SM 36NM
Dinner (again) with Jim at Hurricane Patty’s.
Saturday, November
16, 2019
Chris Laletin (Jaz)
is here. Breakfast at Tami’s (next door) with Jim. Cool, rainy, windy day. Dinner at Hurricane
Patty’s with Chris.
Sunday, November 17,
2019
Cool, misty, windy. Not
a nice day. Dinner at Harry’s on the
waterfront (one of our favorites) with Chris and Jim.
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| Us at Harry's |
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| L to R: Me, Jim, Lisa, Chris |
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| Shrimp and Scallop Orleans |
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| Blackened Redfish |
Monday, November 18,
2019
Lovely day, but cool and windy. At least it is not raining.
We spent the day with Chris running around doing errands (Home Depot, West
Marine, Winn Dixie, Sailors’ Exchange, 2 consignment shops. We also helped pull some wires through his
mast. Jaz is at St. Augustine Marine
and the mast is out laying on saw horses.
Tuesday, November 19,
2019
Beautiful morning. 50
degrees this morning, but warms to 65 during the day. Still windy from the NE.
The forward refrigerator has been acting peculiar. Sometimes it cools and sometimes it does
not. We had it checked before we left
St. Mary’s and were told there was a leak in the evaporator (the box that gets
cold). We had Clay Hansen come over this
morning and his advice is to replace the evaporator. We ordered one from Marine in Miami to be
delivered to Vero Beach.
We made a trip to the Farmer's Market right next to the marina.
Dinner at Pizzalies with Jim (Tug-a-Long), Chris (Jaz),
and Gail and Laura (Fancy Free).
Marvelous food and company (Lisa and I split a salad and veal Marsala).
Wednesday, November
20, 2019
We paid our bill and said goodbye to Paul and Jim (at least
for now). We helped Fancy Free off
the dock.
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| L to R: Gail and Laula (Fancy Free) |
9:30am We are off the dock with help by Jim and Paul. Beautiful morning, no clouds, 55 degrees,
wind W@5.
1:00pm We stop at Palm Coast Marina for fuel (37 gallons) and water. This the first time we have been in here. Very
nice. Extremely well protected all around.
3:30pm LB Knox bridge – on request.
5:30pm Anchor down north of Sea Breeze Bridge in Daytona.
Fancy Free is at Bethune Park.
MM 51SM 41NM
29°14.02’N 081°01.36’W
8:00pm Generator is making a funny noise – like a fan
scraping against a loose housing.
Thursday, November
21, 2019 Thanksgiving
Beautiful morning, no clouds, 60 degrees, wind E@5-10.
Anchor up @7:20am.
The tide is with us.
7:40am Main Street Bridge. The boat that was sunk in the
channel just north of the bridge has been removed.
9:15am Intersection at the south end of Ponce de Leon inlet
and the ICW. 45 minutes before low tide
and there is 10 feet of water at the red and green marker. At the intersection,
the tide turns against us.
9:30am George Munson (Coronado Beach) Bridge. They are still doing maintenance, but no
issues passing through. We talked to Fancy Free. They are about 45 minutes behind us.
12:40pm Haulover Canal Bridge – on request. The tide is still against us almost all the
way to Titusville.
3:18pm We make it through the NASA Causeway (aka Atkinson
Point) Bridge before the 3:30pm to 5:00pm closing curfew).
5:45pm Anchor down on the east bank of the ICW (west bank
Merritt Island) – Georgiana Anchorage. Fancy
Free anchored north of the NASA Causeway.
Gorgeous sunset! 65 degrees, no wind, some puffy clouds on
the horizon.
MM903 74SM 59.2NM 28°16.82’N 080°40.69’W
Friday, November 22,
2019
7:45am Anchor up.
Lovely morning. Some high thin clouds. 65 degrees. No wind.
Making 6.3 knots
@2600 RPM.
The engine would not start this morning. The ground wire on
the starter had broken off – corrosion. Alsothe solenoid seemed to be
stuck. Tapped it with a hammer and held
the ground wire tight and the engine started.
The forward holding tank does not want to pump out. Maybe the through hull is blocked. Rhonda’s folks stuff the opening from the
outside with bits of shade cloth to keep the mud wasps (aka Dirt Dobbers) from
building nests there. Either they forgot
this one or we forgot to remove the stuffing before launch. The vented loop
spewed stuff everywhere – a mess to be cleaned up when we get to Vero.
1:30pm On the fuel dock at Vero Beach City Marina. We retrieved a bunch of packages for us,
Carolyn Wardle (Coral Harbour) and Ida Patton (Black Point). We filled with
water, diesel (16 gallons), gasoline (10 gallons).
3:00pm On mooring #23 with Our Dream. Same mooring as last fall and the same mooring River House (Deb and Bob) used to
occupy. Our Dream is for sale and no
one is aboard.
MM952 49SM 27°39.56'N 080°22.23'W
MM952 49SM 27°39.56'N 080°22.23'W
Saturday, November 23
– Thursday, December 18, 2019
We originally were going to cross to the Bahamas and leave
the boat at Wardle’s Dock in Coral Harbour, New Providence, when we fly to Utah
and then home for the holidays. Instead,
we will leave Rhiannon here. We have a
refrigerator evaporator unit to replace, a new steaming/deck light to install,
600 hour service to do on both the engine and the generator, a forward holding
tank that doesn’t want to empty, spare parts to order, generator water pumps to
receive from the manufacturer, a forward a/c unit to fix, a new AIS unit to
install– so you get the idea – lots to do before we can depart – plus
provisioning for the trip.
During this time we were able to spend a couple of evenings
with Stan and Judy (Rhumb Runner), who we have known about 30 years now. Really?
There are many boats here coming and going that we have met
over the years, so a stop here is always a social event as well. Some of the
folks we saw here are Pete (Scrubbing Bubbles aka mechanic aka good friend). We
had dinner twice with Pete, once at Pizzadoodles and once at Saki. Both times with a bunch of people. We also had lunch or dinner (some more than
once and most time with a group) at Casey’s, Bobby’s, Mulligans’, Cravings, The
Farmers Market (on Saturdays), Riverside, Manatees, Kountry Kitchen, Too Jays
Deli, First Watch, ice cream at Country Citrus and Cravings.
While here in Vero, we rented a car and drove south to Boca Raton to visit our friend Hazel, who is in the hospital there. We lived next door to her for a few years. She still lives in Salem, MA. She is godmother to our two youngest sons. She spends winters in Boca now caring for her older sister and brother. She is doing much better and will be out of the hospital soon, good news!
While here in Vero, we rented a car and drove south to Boca Raton to visit our friend Hazel, who is in the hospital there. We lived next door to her for a few years. She still lives in Salem, MA. She is godmother to our two youngest sons. She spends winters in Boca now caring for her older sister and brother. She is doing much better and will be out of the hospital soon, good news!
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| Lisa and Hazel |
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| This silly bird was on the hood of the rental car at the hospital in Boca . |
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| Even as we tried to leave it stayed on the hood! |
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| Barber Bridge at Vero Beach at Sunset |
December 19 - 26, 2019
Tom and Mary Lou drove us to Orlando International for our
flight to Salt Lake City. We spent a
week there with Jeff and Carly and Jacob and Betsy. On December 24, Carly’s parents arrived. It was a very nice visit and as is usually
the case, it was too short. Jeff’s
birthday is on the 24th and it was nice to spend time with him for
his birthday and both boys and families at Christmas. We stayed with Jeff and Carly for half the visit and with Jacob and Betsy (a boxer))
for half the visit.
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| L to R: Lisa, Jeff, Carly, Betsy, Jacob, Benny (in front) |
December 26, 2019 – January
14, 2020
We flew to New Hampshire on the “red-eye” flight at 11:59pm
on December 26. Our brother-in-law met us at Logan Airport when we arrived at
6:46am on December 27. We retrieved our car from Lisa’s parents’ garage and
were home in Laconia, NH, by 10:30am. We
were able to visit with friends and some of the family, but on the day
scheduled to drive to Beverly, MA, to see Rachael and Sarah and the grand
daughters (Taylor, Raven, Jaimey (and husband Emir and great grand daughter
Mellissa) and Brook), we had a significant snow storm.
We spent some significant time while at home visiting
doctors and dentists too.
We got to see Brett (our former house sitter and his son
Dexter) to exchange gifts. We also got
to spend time with Jake and Lulu the two labs we have “joint custody” of with
Brett.
We drove back down to Billerica, MA, on January 14, and
stayed overnight at Lisa’s parents.
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