1000 Miles on Our Boat - Stuart, FL - Day 66

Day 66
11/18/15

I just realized as we pulled into Stuart, FL today that we have now logged over 1000 miles on this trip on our boat.  We exited the ICW into the St. Lucie River at mile 987.8 on the ICW.  ICW mile zero is in Norfolk and from our marina in Hampton, VA to mile marker zero is 15 miles, so as we exited the ICW we already had our 1000th mile logged.  Add another 12 miles up the St. Lucie River to our marina here and we now have logged 1015 miles on our trip, not counting a couple of accidental detours.

We will be here in Stuart for a few days before we fly home for Thanksgiving.  We will spend it finding a good kennel for Jake and Kimi while we are gone, meeting a group of boaters for lunch, and setting up some maintenance work to be done on the boat while we are gone.  I don't plan on making any more blog posts until we get back, so have a good Thanksgiving!

Vero Beach, FL - Day 52 through 57

Day 52-57

11/12/15 through 11/17/15

On the way from Cocoa, FL to our next stop in Vero Beach we had some excitement.  We were pulled over and boarded by two Florida Fish and Wildlife officers.  They pulled alongside and told us to keep moving at slow speed, and then one officer boarded while the other one followed in their boat.  He checked the usual things like registration, life jackets, fire extinguishers, etc.  Then he asked to see the head.  He put some type of dye in the head and had me flush it three times.  I suppose if the head were flushing directly into the water instead of the holding tank the dye would have come out in the water and be observed by the officer following in the boat.  Everything was OK, so they went on their way.  

About a half hour later Sharon went down from the flybridge and then came back reporting that the bathroom was flooded.  I went down and found that apparently the solenoid that allows fresh water into the bowl when the head is flushed got stuck in the open position allowing many gallons of water to drain from our fresh water tank into the head, then overflowing onto the floor.  Under the floor is a compartment where the shower drain pump and a couple of valves are located.  It was full of water right up to the floor boards.  After we got into the marina at Vero Beach I bailed it out using a manual bilge pump and a bucket, emptying about 40 gallons of water before it was all gone.  Someone had just told me a few days before that cruising on a boat meant doing repairs in exotic places, so I'm starting to get the picture.  I do have a spare solenoid, but the existing one seems to be functioning now, so we'll just watch it closely.

Once we got situated in the marina we checked out the free bus service that picks up right at the marina and makes a loop around the island (Vero Beach is on a barrier island) and the beach, and also goes to the mainland for grocery stores, and just about other type of store you may need.  We took the bus to a nice beachfront restaurant where we had Sharon's birthday dinner just a few feet from the 80-degree ocean.

There is a Catholic church about a 20-minute walk from the marina.  We checked on Mass time for Saturday evening and found that they had a 4:00 pm and a 5:30 pm Mass.  We were told that they get so busy during the winter time that they have to add Masses to accommodate the visitors.  The priest who said our Mass was almost as fast as Fr. Bruse in Madison, VA, having us out in less than 45 minutes.  The church had just opened their store in the parish hall selling Christmas items, so Sharon stocked us up with holiday items that we will not be able to bring from home for the Christmas season.

One day we just spent on the beach, sunning and enjoying the water.  That day (November 16th) the surf temperature was 82 degrees!

Right next door to the marina is a very large dog park.  We took Jake and Kimi there almost every day for some rare off leash time.  On Sunday, they had an event at the dog park call Bark and Brew.  There were vendors, including a beer stand, and some games and other events for the dogs to enjoy.  There was a lure coursing area set up and as soon as Jake and Kimi saw the equipment they knew what it was and that was all they wanted to do.  They both love lure coursing and have each previously earned their AKC Coursing Ability titles.  They both got to lure course four or five times, making multiple circuits of the course each time.  We would try to give them a rest after each run, but they would keep dragging us back to that area so they could run again. They were a couple of tired dogs that night!

Vero Beach was a very nice stop.  With the nice winter climate, the beautiful beaches, the dog park, and free bus transportation I can see why this city has been nicknamed "Velcro Beach".  People come here and they don't want to leave!

Cocoa, FL - Day 51

Day 51
11/11/15

The passage to our next free dock stop was uneventful.  We saw many dolphins along the way, and went through several manatee zones, but we saw no manatees.  We could see the Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral for many miles while we seemed to be making a huge semi-circle around it.  This is the building where rockets and space shuttles are assembled prior to being moved to their launching pads and is one of the largest buildings in the world.  We could also see a space shuttle on a launching pad across the water, but it was too far away to get a good picture.

We reached the free dock in Cocoa, FL while sweltering in the record breaking heat.  Many boats were anchored out, but no other boats were tied up at the dock.  We walked into the nearby town shopping area and ran into someone we had met at St. Augustine.  It's funny how we keep running into the same people in our travels.

After suffering through another hot and humid night of record breaking Florida heat and humidity without power and worrying about the homeless people we had seen around the park, we decided that free docks are just not worth it.  We'll be staying at marinas from now on barring any really unusual circumstances.

New Smyrna, FL. Manatees! - Day 50

Day 50
11/10/15

We left St. Augustine after a nice week there.  Jake and Kimi were as ready to travel as they ever are.  Kimi gets so anxious due to the unpredictable motion of the boat that we have to medicate her to keep her from driving Sharon crazy on each trip.  Usually, she will relax then and keep a sharp lookout for dolphins and dogs on other boats.

We were in the southbound sailboat brigade most of the day, and when we weren't going slow for sailboats we were going slow in manatee zones.  You know you're in manatee country when you have to go slow and they paint the bridge pilings with pictures of manatees.

 We finally arrived at the free New Smyrna Beach Courtesy dock where there were two boats already docked, and two more joined us later.  The docks were a little tricky to tie to since they were built in a curve.  It took some creative fender and line work to get us tied alongside in a way that the boat was secure and protected and at the same time we could get on and off.  As soon as we docked someone walking in the park there told us he had been watching a manatee and pointed out where.  We walked there and sure enough, there was the first manatee either of us had seen in the wild!  Several times that evening one or two would surface near our boat, but before I could get the camera out to take a picture they would be gone, not to resurface anytime soon.

Temperatures had somewhat moderated today so the stay without shore power and air conditioning was not too terrible, but it was still very muggy.  We're starting to rethink this free dock idea.

St. Augustine, FL Came for Two Days, Stayed for a Week! - Day 43 through 49

Day 43 through 49
11/3/15 - 11/10/15


Leaving Jacksonville it was a slow go.  We crossed the St. Johns River and immediately entered a manatee zone, where we had to travel no wake.  Then there were several bridges in close proximity, also no wake zones.  Then we came upon a six-mile residential area, no wake and we were behind a half dozen sailboats at low tide in a narrow channel, so I decided just to go with the flow and go slow.

Finally, we reached St Augustine, FL.  For the day, we averaged 9 mph versus our normal 13-14 mph.  The first thing we saw was a huge cross.  We later found out that this was the site of the first Catholic Mass said in the new world, September 8, 1565.

After docking, we walked into town and found the basilica, home of the oldest parish in the US.  Although we were not really taught this in school, or at least it was glossed over, St. Augustine is the oldest continually inhabited European settlement in the US.  I guess because it was established by the Spanish rather than the English we were not taught much about it.  The history here is fascinating.  That evening we had dinner at a nearby microbrewery where I had delicious shrimp and lobster tacos and some very good micro brews. Sharon had a goat cheese spinach salad that she said was exceptional.
The next few days we toured the city on a trolly that took us to various historical and important sites around the city.  We could hop on and off the trolley as something caught our fancy.  After the first two days we had enjoyed the city and its history so much that we decided to extend our stay for a week so we could really dig into the things to see here.

The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche is also on the site of the first Mass said in the new world.

A picture from the outside of the oldest jail

I took a few casts from our dock the first night in the marina and caught this fish that fought like crazy and jumped six or eight times before I could land him.  I later found out that it was a Ladyfish, also known as the poor man's tarpon.  I did think it was a small tarpon initially because of the way it fought.

We toured Flagler College, a private college housed in the old Ponce de Leon hotel built in the late 1800's by Henry Flagler, a founder of Standard Oil.  It was built as a winter retreat for the wealthy industrialists of the day.  It required that a reservation must be made for the full 3 month season at a cost of roughly $100,000 in today's dollars, and it must be paid up front in cash.  To be fair, it probably was the first all-inclusive resort in the country since it included all meals and entertainment.

The dining hall at Flagler College has 79 Louis Comfort Tiffany stained glass windows worth over $130 million.  They are covered with bullet proof plexiglass.

They also have two clocks built by Thomas Edison who also installed electricity in the hotel four years before the White House had electricity.  People were so afraid of electricity at the time that Henry Flagler had to hire staff for the hotel whose sole function was to turn the lights on and off for the guests.

We had lunch in a small Cuban restaurant on the Oldest Street in the Oldest City in the US, where we had a wonderful ceviche and black beans and rice.

We visited the Lightener Museum, a collection of collections that Mr. Lightener bought from distressed estates during the Great Depression.  It is housed in the old Alcazar Hotel, also built by Haney Flagler as a retreat for the wealthy, as opposed to the super wealthy who stayed at the Ponce de Leon across the street.  It contained what was at the time the world's largest indoor swimming pool, now a cafe.

 

There was a pirate festival this weekend, and the whole city and the marina were full of drunken pirates and wenches all weekend.

We visited the Castillo de San Marco, a fortress that was built by the Spanish in the late 1500's to protect the inlet and the city.  It was built of the local coquina stone, which is basically fossilized sea shells, and has never been taken in battle, in part due to the ability of the coquina to absorb the force of cannon balls and other assaults without cracking.  You can see the inlet in the background in the pictures below.

While at the fort we witnessed a demonstration of firing one of the cannons.

Saturday morning we caught a free shuttle to the Winn Dixie grocery and West Marine where we stocked up on some needed groceries and boat supplies.  On Saturday evening we attended Mass at the Basilica.

Sunday we planned a day off since it was supposed to be storming all day.

Monday was a work day to get ready to leave on Tuesday.  I got the boat pumped out, refilled the water tanks, checked the oil and fluids, etc.  I spent most of the rest of the day setting up marina reservations for where we would be staying until after the PDQ owners meet up on December 5th in Stuart, FL.  Sharon spent the day completing continuing education requirements on-line for renewing her nursing license, which is due this month.

St. Augustine was an unexpected pleasure to visit and I would recommend it.

Jacksonville, FL - Day 42

Day 42
11/2/15

We left Brunswick, GA and soon entered Florida!  Soon after we got into Florida we entered a no wake zone and had to go slow for a while.  A dolphin decided to give us an escort for about a mile, so I was able to get the picture above.  We were thrilled to see a dolphin this close pacing our boat!

We were able to find a free dock at a city park on the outskirts of Jacksonville, Fl, so we tied up for the night.  We ran into a couple and their dog we had met at the Osprey Marina in Myrtle Beach, so we already had friends there!  Before dark, there were six boats tied up on this free dock.  The dock was nice, and the park was a nice place to walk the dogs, but there were no other amenities.  Since there was no electrical hookup we spent the night without air conditioning.  It was hot and sticky, but free is good, right?

Brunswick, GA - Day 40 and 41

Day 40 and 41
10/31/15 - 11/1/15

The next stop we had planned was Jekyll Island, GA with a short side trip to Brunswick, GA for fuel.  We wold arrive there on Saturday, but when we realized there was no Catholic church on Jekyll Island and there was in Brunswick we changed our reservation while we were underway to stay at Brunswick instead.  We pulled into Brunswick behind a freighter going under a bridge very similar to the one in Charleston.

We docked and then walked into town to find the church so we could attend Saturday evening Mass.  We found that about a 5 block section of the town's main street was in the process of being converted to a set for a movie that was to begin filming on Monday.  The film is "Live by Night" starring and being directed by Ben Affleck.  The street is being transformed to look like 1925 Ybor City, a section of Tampa, Fl. where a lot of Cuban immigrants settled and was once the cigar rolling capital of the world.

We found the church and went to Mass, and then back to the marina.  On the way back we found a farmer's market and bought some tomatoes, a very nice cantaloupe, and a huge head of cabbage.

Back at the marina we found that we were invited to the marina's Halloween party featuring free wine, beer, and food, so that settled our plans for the evening.  We liked the place so much we decided to stay another day.

We spent the next day doing boat maintenance, fueling the boat, and getting to ready to depart the next day.  While pumping out the holding tank I was having a problem and eventually determined that the vent was clogged.  While trying to remove the hose to clear it, I snapped the fitting off right at the tank.  I cleared it then did a quick Rube Goldberg patch job.  I'm NOT opening that tank to fix it, someone else can do that while we're in Stuart.  Duct tape is my friend.

The founding fathers were so happy that we stayed for the additional night that they had a band come and play for us in the park next to the marina.

The next morning we decided that we would walk into town before we left because filming for the movie was supposed to begin.  We were hoping to see Ben Affleck or any other famous actors.  We did finally see Ben and managed to get a few pictures of him having his morning coffee and a cigarette while the crew was getting ready to begin filming.  I must say, overall Brunswick, GA was a pleasant surprise!