Thursday, January 21
thru Friday, January 29, 2016
We flew back to Brunswick on Thursday, January 21. We spent the next week getting the boat ready
for this year’s trip, provisioning and finishing several projects. We had shipped some stuff to Brunswick
including materials for a new antenna for the cell booster and a new 2 person
inflatable kayak.
Outbound is also
here (Steve and Deb). We had dinner with
them on Saturday at a new place called Southern Table in Brunswick. We had
dinner there when we were here last November and the food is excellent. They
left on Monday, January 25, headed to Miami to meet friends. They then plan to cross over to the Bahamas.
Wild Goose is in
the slip next to us, Rich and Linda.
They have been traveling the Caribbean and the west coast. They are staying in Brunswick until May. We went to dinner with them at BJs in Darien
(best shrimp in Georgia). Very enjoyable.
On Friday, the weather has cleared, the boat is loaded and
fueled and the rental car returned.
Saturday, January 30,
2016. Off the dock at 9:45am. Linda and Rich are there to help us off the
dock. It is sunny and 60 degrees, no
wind. At 10:45am we are entering Jekyll
Creek. The jetty we ran up on in 2012 is
here. It is underwater, as it was in
2012, and the tide is running hard, but we manage to make it past and through
the creek at Jekyll Island.
At noon, we are south of Jekyll Island and the wind is still
calm and it is sunny. At 1:30pm we are
at Cumberland Dividings. This area has
been a problem because of the changing channel.
It has now been remarked and we passed easily. High clouds, wind south at 5. We have had a fair tide since entering Jekyll
Creek. We continue to have a tidal push
the rest of the day.
We managed to aground in the mud at the entrance to the Fort
George River. You should be very close
to the red marker and the south shore where the deep water is.
Anchor
down in the Fort George River by Kingsley Plantation at 6:10pm. Clear and cool
55 degrees. 60SM 48NM today. MM 735.
36°26.61’N 081°26.51’W
Sunday, January 31, 2016. Anchor up at
8:30am. Cold, 45 degrees. Very chilly overnight. Hazy sun, a little wind from the north.
Fisherman are out in small boats – brrrrrrrrr.
Sisters creek bridge at 9:15am. New bridge about half done. St. Johns river at 9:30am.
New
warship at the shipyard, a trimaran that looks like something out of Star Wars
– our tax dollars at work.
It is
dead low tide, so hopefully we will have a tidal push as tide comes in. 2:30pm, we are at the Bridge of Lyons in St.
Augustine. We had a nice tidal push all
the way from Jacksonville. On the dock
at Rivers’ Edge Marina at 3:30pm. Greenstone (Bob and Judy) is here with
guests (Matt and Jeff). Saber Tooth is here also (John and
Nora). Dinner at O.C. Smith’s on the
waterfront with the group. Very nice
evening. 49SM, 41NM, MM780. 29°53.13’N,
081°19.37’W
Monday, February 1, 2016. Beautiful morning, cool but sunny and bright.
Today we gave the boat a bath, and we got showers, too. We cleaned and
waterproofed the dodger and bimini. Worked
on the never ending list of boat chores and projects. The knot meter is still not working, even
though the sending unit was replaced in Brunswick. Phil, from First Coast Marine Services, who
had done the original replacement, drove to St. Augustine. He arrived at 3:30 and worked until 7 trying
to get it working. In the process, three
sending units later, we discovered that the control head was bad and was
shorting out the sending unit. I will
order a new control head tomorrow. There
is a guy on ebay that reconditions these things at about ½ the price as
Raymarine. I have already ordered a
control head for the auto pilot from him.
We
had dinner with John and Nora (Saber
Tooth) at Hurricane Patty’s. The
place has a new owner and has had a facelift. The food is still good. Nice
evening.
Tuesday, February 2, 2016. We put
another coat of waterproofing on all the canvas. Nora and Lisa went
shopping. We walked over to the farmers’
market next door for fresh fruits and vegies.
Installed a new fresh air blower for the diesel (the old one “screams”
when you turn it on). Also installed new hinges on the hatch cover for the
engine. This cover is also the stairs
leading from the cockpit to the main cabin (aka companionway). The new ones sent from Catalina are a tiny
bit smaller than the originals (one broke, hence the replacements), so what
should have been a straightforward replacement turned into a two hour job of
trying to make them “fit”.
Greenstone (Bob and Judy) and Guests
(Matt and Jeff), Saber Tooth (John
and Nora) and Lisa and I went to Pizzalies in old town St. Augustine for
dinner. If you have ever walked through
old town, you know Pazzalies. They
always have someone out front with pizza samples. Lisa and I split a dinner of veal marsala
(marvelous). Afterward, we went to Café
del Hidalgo for gelato.
MMMMMMMMMMMMM! A good time was
had by all.
Wednesday, February 3, 2016. Off the dock at 10:30am (low tide). We waited until now to leave because Saber Tooth’s stern was to the current
and they could not back out of the slip until slack tide. Greenstone
is also off the dock and we all begin the trek farther south. Beautiful morning – 78 degrees, mostly sunny,
wind SE @ 10-15. 11:30am there is a
strong wind from the SE (20+ kts) and the current is on our nose, so it is slow
going and we are burning more fuel than usual.
1pm we pass Matanzas Inlet, but the tide is still running against us. 2pm, winds gusting to 30. 5:30 pm, anchor down just north of the
Seabreeze Bridge in Daytona. We fought
wind and current all day – making up for the favorable wind and tide on
Sunday. 51SM, 41NM, MM829. 29°14.09’N
081°01.40’N.
This is a very noisy spot
(traffic on the bridge, trains, music from the club across the waterway,
sirens). Our tachometer has quit working again and we only hear faint signals
and static on the vhf. There is also a
sunken boat in this anchorage that was not here last time we passed through.
Thursday, February 4, 2016. Up
early. Wind died over night. We put 20 gallons of fuel in the tank from
the jerry cans we are carrying. Not only
is the vhf still acting up, one of the portable hand-held microphones (aka
WHAMx4) is dead. When we try to charge
the battery on the mic, nothing happens.
Put in a new lithium battery, still nothing. Good thing we have a portable vhf radio as a
spare. Tach still not working.
The
anchor is up at 8:30am. We pass through the Main St. Bridge at 8:45 and
Memorial Bridge at 9am. By 9:30, the
wind is freshening. By 9:45, it is 25+
right on our nose. We tried to use the
spare WHAMx$ mic and it seems to be working, but reception is sporadic. 10am Ponce de Leon Inlet and no issues
getting past this section of shinny water.
10:40am, Greenstone, who is
leading the group, is aground by the infamous “red/green” south of the George
Munson (ala Coronado Beach) Bridge in New Smyrna. It is low tide. Several power vessels,
including the Coast Guard, pass her by, but none assist. Finally, Greenstone
is free after using all the crew (Judy, Matt and Jeff) on the rail to tip her a
bit to port. Saber Tooth (who draws 7 feet – maybe a bit more fully loaded like
she is now) elects to wait for the tide to rise a bit and will meet us in
Titusville.12:30pm, past the bridge and into Mosquito Lagoon. Wind still 10-15
from the south and there is still a strong current on our nose. Normally, there is little current here, but
the strong south wind for the past 3 days creates a “wind tide”, where the wind
is driving the water to the north. It
has been cloudy all day and there is a line of thunderstorms on the radar to
our west. At 5pm, we are on the gas dock
at Titusville Municipal Marina and take on 33 gallons of diesel. With the storm on the horizon, we decide to
stay here tonight, rather than venture farther south to Cocoa. Saber
Tooth makes it in at 6:30pm. At 7pm,
the rain comes. But at 7:30 it has let
up, and the whole group troops over the Sweetwater for their fish tacos. A walk back to the marina dodging puddles and
raindrops and to bed. Long day. 49SM, 40NM, MM 878. One scheduled bridge, 3 on request bridges
today. 28°37.23’N 080°48.59’W
Friday, February 5, 2016. Windy, sunny and cold this morning. We decide to remain here for this round of bad
weather. We will see Lisa’s Uncle George
and his wife Bev today, and another uncle (Franny) tomorrow. We spent some time working on the vhf
issue. Removed the radio from the
console at the nav station and checked all connections. Cleaned and greased the antenna connection at
the back of the radio and the base of the mast. Ordered new remote microphones. Still getting a lot of static. New antenna should be here tomorrow.
We
made a Walmart run with George and Bev and then had dinner at Dixie
Crossroads. They specialize in “Rock
Shrimp” that look like little lobsters and taste very similar also. Very good!
The
Girl Scouts selling cookies outside the restaurant were out of “Smoas”, so we
made a donation to the cause anyway.
Saturday, February 6, 2017. Today
begins calm and 60 degrees. Saber Tooth
and Greenstone leave for Vero Beach.
Virginia (Franny’s wife) calls to say he is really not feeling well, so maybe
we should skip this visit. We worked on
the Nauticloud (wifi booster) to get it up and running. The wifi signal in the marina is weak (as
many are), so we think this will be a good test. The unit is all self contained and mounted on
the new antenna mast, but when we check it, the waterproof unit has ¼” of water
in it – not good. I called the
manufacturer and we got the unit working, but they are sending a new one to
Vero and it should be there when we get there.
Dinner
on board and a movie – “Perfect Storm”, maybe not the best choice for a boating
trip. Rain started at 5pm and continued
all night.
Sunday, February 7, 2016. Super Bowl Sunday. Cloudy, cold, wind howling from the north
once again. George and Bev invited us to
their house to watch the Super Bowl.
George came by to pick us up. We
made the cream cheese ball, (see below) and cookies. Bev had a whole variety of food including
some excellent pulled pork. Of course
the Patriots are not in the game, but Denver was unstoppable against
Carolina. Maybe this was Peyton’s swan
song. If so, he goes out in style. A
very nice day.
Party Spread
4 green onions chopped small
1 4 ounce jar dried beef
1 package cream cheese
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
Sauce
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Cream ingredients
together. Chill. Serve on party rye.
Monday, February 8, 2016. Off the dock at 7:30am. Cold, 40 degrees this morning. Wind West @ 5-10. No dew. Sunny.
8:40am
Nasa Causeway Bridge (aka Addison Point Bridge). Bridge is have maintenance done and only ½ of
the span opens. A bit tricky getting
through. Also, the bridge tender wanted
to wait until there was more than one boat to pass through, so we waited about
40 minutes for an opening. 11:30am already made 30+ miles today. Sunny, cool,
55 degrees, wind west 5-10. 12:45pm
Melbourne, wind west 15+, gusting 25+.
Foresail out, making 7+ knots.
Wind gusts coming South to North West, very flukey wind. 4:40pm, turn under Wabasso Bridge (north Vero
Beach) and douse the sail. 5:30pm, on
the mooring 29 rafted with Seeker (Earl and Kathy). The mooring field is full, so new boats get
to raft up with ones already moored. We met Seeker in Marathon in 2014 and
Brunswick in 2015. There are eleven
boats here that we have met in our travels (Autumn
Borne, Seeker, Bare Foot’n, Saber Tooth, Greenstone, Summer of 42, Elle and I,
Double Exposure, Adventure, Flying Pig, Troika). Nice – like a home coming.
74SM, 59NM today. MM 952. Long day. One on request bridge. 27°39.61’N
080°22.30’W
Dinner
on board tonight, but Dean and Susan on Autumn
Borne come by to say hello.
Tuesday, February 9, 2016. Cold and
clear. 40 degrees overnight. Maybe this really isn’t Florida. We attend a captains meeting on board Summer of 42. They may leave tomorrow if they think there is a weather window to
cross to the Bahamas on Friday.
The
outboard for the dingy (2-stroke Yamaha 15), which ran great in Brunswick, now
refuses to. It will start, and you can
rev it up, but when you put it in gear, it dies. Changed the plugs, cleaned the carburetor, no
change. Bob (on Greenstone) suggested it might to “sucking air” in with the
fuel. We tried his fuel tank (a genuine
Yamaha, as opposed to my “West Marine”).
It runs better, but not a lot. We
tried Bob’s fuel hose and that seemed to make a difference. Earl has a car
here, so we trek over to the Yamaha store and get new spark plugs that we are
sure are the correct ones, a new fuel hose and a new fuel tank. We also checked the fuel and it seems ok (no
water or junk in it). Enough for today.
Kathy
and Earl come over for dinner (spaghetti).
Nice evening. Kathy is leaving in
the morning to go take care of her elderly mom and give her sister (primary
caretaker) a break.
Wednesday, February 10, 2016. Clear and cold. 38 degrees last night. Saber
Tooth, Greenstone and Summer of 42 depart for Lake Worth and a
possible crossing to the Bahamas on Friday. The outboard refuses to run, even
after all the new goodies I bought for it.
The carburetor is taken apart one more.
No it is spitting globules of gas out the exhaust. Time to call an expert. One Earl’s and Pierre’s (Troika) recommendation, we call Vinnie at Complete Marine Service
here in Vero. He seems to think it is
the fuel pump and offers to pick the engine up at the dock in the morning,
diagnose the issue(s), and call me.
Sounds like a plan. The new vhf
antenna arrives. Earl gives me a dingy
ride to the marina office to retrieve the stuff we have had shipped here,
including the new vhf antenna.
Kintala (Tim and Deb), whom we met in
Bimini last year arrive in the harbor.
We met them in the boaters lounge.
Great to see them again.
We
have earl to dinner to finish off the left-over spaghetti from last night. We promised Kathy we would not let him starve
in her absence.
Thursday, February 11, 2016. Another clear morning, but not a cold. 50 degrees this morning, Joe (C-Note) gives us a dingy tow to the
dock. We meet Vinnie on the dock at 8:30.
He tests the gas and declares it ok.
He takes away the motor. We do the laundry, retrieve more parcels from
the office and shower. I walk 2 blocks
to the PakMail store and ship the defective Nauticloud back to the
manufacturer. This afternoon is spent
replacing the sending unit for the tachometer and making sure all the
connections are good. It seems to be
working – keeping fingers crossed.
Dean and Susan (Autumn Borne) stop by to visit for a bit after lunch. At 4pm there
is a sundowner at the north tiki hut. It
is BYOB, and most folks bring a munchy.
We bring our cream cheese Party Spread.
None left at the end.
Friday, February 12, 2016. Hazy and
warmer, but still not warm. Earl comes
to breakfast. Lisa makes eggs, sausage
and home fries. Today we get the new
control/display for the knot meter installed, as well as a new control/display
for the autopilot. The LED on the old
display is going bad, and you can only see a portion of the readout. The new
remote microphones for the vhf radio are programmed and working. Earl earns his breakfast by helping crank
Lisa up the mast on a halyard. She
changes out the vhf antenna at the top of the mast (unfortunately it took two
trips up the mast – Earl and I need a nap!
While she is up there she cleans all the bird poop off both sets of
spreaders (compliments of the grackles at Brunswick). The vhf seems to be working great now. Getting radio checks at 10+ miles and very
clear, no static. Vinnie’s guy rick brings our motor back – and it runs! We borrow a “trolley” (a folding wagon) from Elle and I and head to the hardware
store to buy more 1 lb. Propane canisters for our small Mr. Buddy heater. Then a stop to send off some parcels. We also
pick up the larger propane bottle (10 lb.) we had refilled for the stove.
Saturday, February 13, 2016. A troop of us trek to the beach area to the
local farmers’ market (Seeker, Autumn
Borne, Double Exposure, Troika and us).
Beautiful morning, but cool (60 degrees) and a bit of a north wind.
After visiting the market, we stop at Craving for brunch (great sandwiches,
also ice cream and baked goodies). We
meet Girl Scouts selling cookies and stock up on Smoas. Some shopping along the beach and then a stop
at the hardware store.
Dean
and Susan come for dinner. A nice finish
to a nice day.
Sunday, February 14, 2016. Valentines Day. We spent time today working on the blog, went
in to take showers, and then met Stan on the dock at 3. We are going to he and Judy’s new home here
in Vero for dinner. We first met Stan
and Judy at Hawthorne Cove Marina in Salem, MA when Lisa was pregnant with our
son James. James is now 27. Their boat
was Rhumb Runner. Jim Brennan,
another “old” friend had his boat (Passage
West) in the slip next to ours. We
had a very nice evening, the dinner and the company was great, and their new
home is lovely.
We
received some bad news today. Lillian
Handley, whom I have known as long as Stan and Judy, passed away today. Many of our favorite recipes came directly or
indirectly from her. She was the mother
of Janet, who was married to Jim Bade, who was our best man and best
friend. Jim passed on five years
ago. Another favorite, wonderful person
is gone from us. The following was originally published in our blog in 2013. We’ll reprint it here for your enjoyment.
Chicken Lillian
2 medium onions
3 ribs of celery
2 bell peppers
2 cloves fresh garlic
½ lb fresh mushrooms (optional)
olive oil
1 stick butter
6-8 pieces of chicken (6-8 thighs or
drum sticks or 4 breasts halved)
1 ½ cups sauterne wine (or a nice
chardonnay)
chicken stock
rice
I use an 8 quart pot.
Finely chop onions, celery (including
tops), peppers, garlic and mushrooms.
Melt one stick of butter (and add at
bit of olive oil). Salt and pepper
chicken pieces (usually leaving the skin on).
When the butter is melted brown the chicken until crusty (usually 2-3
pieces at a time). Remove chicken and place on paper towels.
Put all the veggies in a pot and sauté
for sauté for 7-8 minutes. Add
wine. When it comes to a boil, reduce
heat to simmer. Put in chicken. Cook over low heat 45 to 60 minutes. If more liquid is needed during cooking, add
chicken stock to cover.
Serve over rice. Steamed broccoli or fresh green beans make a
great side dish.
Chicken Lillian is named after Lillian
Handley, one of our favorite people and Janet Handley’s mom. Janet gave me the recipe years ago and we
have prepared it many times - and we have had this dish prepared by Lillian and
Janet as well. Enjoy!
Monday, February 15, 2016. We spent most of today working on this
blog. Sorry it has taken so long to get
it caught up. We had a lovely lunch with
Bob and Deb Martin at Sake (great Thai and sushi next door to Mr. Manatee’s). Deb and Bob sold their boat River House last year and moved
ashore. We met them on our first trip
south and really enjoy our time with them.
Clouds
looked threatening all day and at 5 pm, the skies open up and it is
pouring. This is supposed to pass by
morning.
